Feds Call for Judge to Disband Police in Polygamous Towns
Source: Associated Press
Feds Call for Judge to Disband Police in Polygamous Towns
By BRADY MCCOMBS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY Apr 29, 2016, 4:40 PM ET
The police department in a polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border is inflicted by an entrenched culture of following sect leader edicts at the expense of the constitutional rights of nonbelievers and should be disbanded, the federal government recommended Friday in a new court filing.
Outside agencies such as local county sheriffs need to handle the duties because of the deep-rooted control of the town marshals by leaders of a polygamous sect run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys said.
The recommendations are proposed punishment for the towns after a jury in Phoenix found in March that the towns denied non-sect followers of basic services such as police protection, building permits and water hookups.
A federal judge has set a four-day hearing in October to address the issue. Attorneys for the towns said the government is asking for unprecedented action that is unwarranted.
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