Goddard asks U.S. help with Colorado City police

Arizona’s attorney general is asking for a federal civil rights review of the police department in Colorado City, saying officers there are acting as agents of a polygamous church instead of serving the law.

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.

The state has moved to strip some of those police officers of their law enforcement certification in the isolated town on the Arizona-Utah line, where most of the residents belong to a Mormon sect headed by self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs.

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

But Gary Engels, special investigator for the Mohave County attorney, whose work over the past eight months has led to indictments of Jeffs and eight other leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said a federal investigation would be welcome news.

“I think it is a darn good idea,” Engels said.

Read Another Article

University bans suspected cult leader
Arizona seeking a federal probe of polygamist town’s police force

Related News Articles Topic(s): Polygamy Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Polygamy Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog