The charges faced by a former Unified Police officer, and his history of legal troubles at another department, raise important issues of police accountability according to two Utah professors.

2News reported on former officer Jared Cardon’s charges and history Thursday.

“I, like everybody else, wonder how did this guy get to this point,” said Jason Twede, an associate professor at Utah State University. “How is he still an officer by that point if there’s this history of incidences.”

Twede, who is a former prosecutor and has a doctorate in criminal justice, tells 2News his question is more rhetorical because he doesn’t know the specifics of Cardon’s law enforcement history. But he agrees the type of situation makes him think of police reform and accountability.

Monica Williams, an associate professor of criminal justice at Weber State University, agrees.

“Accountability in the sense of how do we track officers moving between departments,” said Williams.

Williams also declined to speak about specifics of Cardon’s history because she wasn’t familiar with it.

In an earlier interview with 2News, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said he would support a state database that tracks alleged criminal violations by police officers.

Both Williams and Twede support such a database to varying degrees.

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” said Twede.

“I could see some potential issues with that, but I could also see how that might really help avoid situations where officers just move from department to department,” said Williams.

Williams stressed that a potential database wasn’t her specific area of expertise but that she did worry about privacy issues, especially when it came to issues of mental health among police officers.

Twede says the issue of police accountability and officers moving between departments is complicated. Though Cardon has faced charges and civil lawsuits, he’s never been criminally convicted of any crime.

“In the criminal justice system one of the big overarching principles is you are innocent until proven guilty,” said Twede. “That applies to cops just as much as it applies to normal citizens.”