Police in Polygamist Community Get Reviews
 Several agencies reviewing police officers in polygamist community
 
The Associated Press
KPHO News 5 - Phoenix
 
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Several state and county agencies have started investigations of alleged improprieties involving police officers practicing polygamist lifestyles in southern Utah, it was revealed at a police standards conference.

The state police academy recently started its review of officers in the twin polygamist communities of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., after completion of an eight-month investigation by the Utah Attorney General's office.

That report alleges seven of the 13 police officers are practicing polygamists, officers failed to police each other, and they may have exaggerated their amount of required training.

Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Director Sid Groll earlier had said his office would review only the issue of training hours, deferring an inquiry into other accusations until criminal investigations were complete.

But last week, Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Robert Flowers, Groll's boss, decided to conduct investigations alongside separate reviews by a state police detective and a POST investigator.

"We will work in harmony to get this resolved," Groll said.

Hildale and Colorado City are populated primarily by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which advocates the practice of polygamy.

The investigations became the unintended focus of a Tuesday session at the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training Conference in Salt Lake City.

The meeting was meant to be a general discussion of effective discipline and certification hearings, but representatives from across the nation quizzed panelists on the rationale for allowing officers who practice polygamy to maintain their law enforcement certifications.

POST has the authority to discipline officers or revoke their police certifications, actions that Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is advocating for some officers in Hildale.

Shurtleff has said his office can't afford to prosecute every bigamy case, but he will charge polygamists who also commit welfare fraud or sexual crimes against minors.

Former Hildale police officer Rodney Holm was sentenced last August to a year in jail for bigamy and sex with a minor.

Holm, 37, has two wives and 22 children. His conviction stems from his union with a third wife, Ruth Stubbs, who was 16 when they were married in a church ceremony.

Holm was released from jail last week, receiving credit for good time. He has a pending appeal of his conviction before the Utah Supreme Court.
 
KPHO.com
Originally published June 17, 2004
 
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