Polygamist communities appeal court-ordered federal intervention

Doris Hanson with A Shield and Refuge Ministry—a Christian outreach for those leaving the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS)—remembers when one of her clients tried to flee a Colorado City, Ariz.–Hildale, Utah polygamist community five years ago. Local police seized the woman, who was in her 20s, and drove her home, Hanson said. She ended up locked in a backyard trailer.

“There has always been religious discrimination in Colorado City,” Hanson said. “That is normal because the sheriffs are polygamist men and believe you have to be polygamist to go to heaven.”

Unmarked cars trailed Hanson when she visited the town. Police allegedly keep tabs on non-FLDS vehicles for the church.

Non-believers in the FLDS community for years have accused both the marshal department and town utilities of withholding police protection, building permits, utility access, and privacy rights from non-believers.

After listening to seven weeks of local testimonies, a jury in March accused the towns of violating basic constitutional rights. The decision prompted the U.S. Justice Department to pursue disbanding the police department and installing a federal monitor for town utilities.

On Tuesday, the cities challenged the ruling, claiming the changes would be too costly for the town and inappropriate for old offenses.

“We’re not talking about a pattern of civil rights violations like the deep South,” Hildale’s attorney, Blake Hamilton, told the Mohave Valley Daily New. “We’re talking about people claiming religious discrimination.”

Hamilton and Jeff Matura, the Colorado City attorney, asked visiting District Judge Russel Holland to schedule another hearing to reconsider the ruling. The hearing will be held in October.

Matura said the 8,000-person community doesn’t have the resources to reel in county police forces or pay millions for a federal monitor. The police department disbandment would be the first in U.S. history—all for what Matura claims is “a property dispute.”

Thirty percent of the town’s officers have been decertified in the past 15 years, but Matura said the federal government is playing with statistics. All officers in the department have remained certified since 2007—the best certification rate in Arizona, according to Matura.

“They’ve been on the straight and narrow since 2007,” he said. While he doesn’t deny FLDS leaders puppetted the department in the past, he insists law-abiding officers have replaced corrupt FLDS marshals.

Colorado City and Hildale claim they can patch up their problems through outside supervision and policy changes—including one that amplifies punishment for inappropriate policing.

“Clearly, improvements can be made,” Matura said, although he didn’t detail current problems.

Hanson is not as hopeful about the city’s proposal.

“They’ve promised to make policy changes,” she said, “but they never have.”