SALT LAKE CITY — A stretch of city blocks near Utah's primary homeless shelter has become a "breeding ground" for crime, a federal drug enforcement officer in Utah said Friday.

The area near Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park is home to drug dealing, prostitution, public lewdness, disorderly conduct and violence, said Brian Besser, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's district agent in charge.

His comments come as House Speaker Greg Hughes calls for urgency to reel in crime in the Rio Grande neighborhood, saying this week it may be a possible job for the National Guard. Gov. Gary Herbert and local leaders have said they agree the problem is pressing.

"What we have downtown is an out-of-control situation, where it's become a breeding ground, a greenhouse for crime," Besser said Friday.

Besser spoke broadly of his concerns the same day he met with Hughes, who earlier this week called for the creation of a special post in Utah government to oversee the issue. The pair on Friday mainly talked about crime in the area and how to fix the issue, Besser said.

Besser said he's not equating homelessness to lawlessness, but said more arrests need to be made near the Road Home shelter, which is flanked by spillover camps on the grass and median on 500 West in Salt Lake City.

"We're attacking the idea of crime," Besser said Friday. "We're not pointing the finger at any one entity. We're taking a look and saying we've got an unabated crime situation here that needs to be addressed."

Besser said he believes it's also an economic problem. He says visitors to the area, including his own family, are turned off by the environment.

Hughes, Herbert, Salt Lake County and city leaders are set to meet in coming days to address overcrowding at the shelter and services nearby, but have not publicly set a date.

The governor's office suggested a meeting with legislative and local leaders take place in a couple weeks, House Chief of Staff Greg Hartley said, but Hughes doesn't want to wait that long.

Herbert's spokesman, Paul Edwards, said the governor's office appreciates Hughes' passion to address the issues head on, but it has been difficult to convene the local and state leaders before Pioneer Day on July 24.

"No one is standing still on this issue," Edwards said, adding that several different discussions on the issue were already under way.

Herbert earlier said through Edwards that he had a productive conversation with Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams Thursday. The three talked about how to better manage crime in the Rio Grande neighborhood, Edwards said.

"We're clearly at the point where there is a significant crisis, a humanitarian crisis in that part of the city that requires a very vigorous response, especially from law enforcement," Edwards said.

Better enforcement of loitering and camping laws in the area were a priority, Edwards said, and the governor was interested in possibly setting aside more resources to combat the issues.

Hughes said he floated the idea of the National Guard coming to Salt Lake City to get people's attention and make a point, saying the neighborhood is violent and unsafe but that he was not calling in earnest for the National Guard to intervene.

His suggestion the state may need a "czar" over the problem came after reports of a homeless man attacking and injuring Las Vegas 51s Triple-A pitcher Joshua Cruz at 500 S. West Temple and a woman crashing into six pedestrians, killing one, on a sidewalk just north of the Road Home shelter.

Herbert's office has said he is open to the idea of creating a specific state position to oversee the issue and believes it deserves careful consideration.

Both McAdams and Biskupski say they share Hughes' frustration.

McAdams said on KSL Newsradio's "The Doug Wright Show" Thursday the city and county plans to close the 1,100-bed downtown shelter by June 2019 and open three new homeless resource centers at sites were good long-term solutions, but that other measures are needed in the meantime.

The county health department, for its part, has brought in trucks to do routine cleanups in the neighborhood to avoid health issues.

Biskupski's spokesman Matthew Rojas has said she believes it is a statewide issue and she has asked for assistance in coordinating nonprofits in the Rio Grande neighborhood.

City officials have also tried to figure out how to better enforce camping and loitering laws in the Rio Grande area, but they often run into legal challenges and don't want to violate constitutional rights of people living there, Rojas said.

Contributing: Ladd Egan