AG seeks civil rights probe of polygamist community's police
 
By Paul Davenport
The Associated Press
Tucson Citizen
 
PHOENIX - After following the lead of their Utah counterparts by moving to lift the law enforcement certifications of some police officers in a polygamist community, Arizona authorities are seeking a federal civil rights review of the entire Colorado City police department.

Attorney General Terry Goddard said many complaints from other law enforcement officials and citizens prompted him to ask U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to have the Justice Department conduct a preliminary inquiry, a step that could lead to a formal investigation and possible legal action.

"I believe that the officers of the Colorado City Police Department have engaged in a pattern of practices of conduct that deprives individuals of their constitutional and civil rights," Goddard wrote in a letter to Gonzales.

There are reports of young men being forced to leave Colorado City by being threatened with arrest at the same time as they fell out of favor with the polygamist sect that dominates the community and that police turned a deaf ear to the complaints of women who have been forced into marriage or subjected to violence, Goddard said in an interview Friday.

Police officers "seem to be aiding and abetting criminal activity," Goddard said. "They seem to have, under church direction, have a very selective view to enforce the law. These are allegations. I'm not saying that any have been proven, but I think we've heard enough to think that some of the complaints are pervasive and are credible."

Colorado City police Chief Fred Barlow did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.

A Justice Department spokesman in Washington, Eric Holland, said he wasn't familiar with the Aug. 23 letter and didn't know the status of the request.

The Justice Department has conducted numerous reviews of other law enforcement agencies around the country. For example, Detroit settled two federal lawsuits by promising in 2003 to make significant reforms in how it uses force, detains prisoners and questions witnesses.

Goddard's request for a federal inquiry is among several steps taken by Arizona and Utah authorities against the polygamist sect that dominates Colorado City and adjacent Hildale, Utah. The polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints broke away from the Mormon church.

In Utah, the state attorney general this year obtained a court order removing fugitive church leader Warren Jeffs and other church leaders from management of the United Effort Plan Trust, which holds the FLDS' real estate assets.

Jeffs was indicted in Arizona on charges that he arranged a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a man who was already married. A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of Jeffs.

On Oct. 20, the state Board of Education will hold a special meeting to consider a request by Goddard and other officials to place the Colorado City school district in receivership because of alleged mismanagement. The district has denied the state's allegations.

On Oct. 19, a state law-enforcement certification board is scheduled to decide whether to revoke the certification of two current or former Colorado police officers on grounds that include practice of polygamy in violation of the Arizona Constitution's ban.

The state board conceivably could investigate and, if warranted, impose sanctions on the entire Colorado City department instead of just individual officers, Goddard said. However, the Justice Department "is uniquely equipped to do this kind of thing. They've done it before across the country."

In the pending Arizona decertification case, Sam Roundy and Vance Barlow did not appear for a recent hearing they'd requested, effectively defaulting, said Tom Hammarstrom, executive director of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.

A Utah board on March 22 revoked both men's law-enforcement certification in that state - another ground for decertification being considered by Arizona.

An online directory had no telephone listing for either man in Colorado City or Hildale. However, Roundy told a Salt Lake City newspaper, the Deseret Morning News, in March that polygamists were being unfairly targeted because of their religion.

"We grew up in this culture and we're part of it," Roundy told the newspaper. "It's religious persecution going after polygamy, that's all it is."

Another former Colorado City police officer is among eight men who have pleaded not guilty after being indicted earlier this year on various counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and conspiracy related to so-called spiritual unions.

On the Net:

Arizona Attorney General's Office: www.azag.gov

Arizona Peace Office Standards and Training Board: www.azpost.state.az.us
 
tucsoncitizen.com
Originally published September 30, 2005
 
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