Thursday is the final day of a four-day federal court hearing on the fate of a police agency that serves two polygamous towns on the Arizona-Utah border.
The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a judge to disband the Colorado City Marshal’s Office after a jury found that local police violated the constitutional rights of non-members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Attorneys for Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah said disbandment would be unprecedented, and have called witnesses to convince a federal judge to try other remedies.
They started laying out their case on Wednesday, when a law-enforcement expert testified the department should actually grow. The expert told the judge that adding two more officers in 2017 would free up the Chief to work on improving public relations.
The Chief, who faces possible decertification in Arizona, is still a young officer seeking a mentor, said Blake Hamilton, attorney representing Hildale, Utah.
“And now he’s in the position of leading this department that has obviously had problems in the past,” Hamilton said. “And he has specifically said how he is committed to making sure there is a cultural change.”
Instead of giving closing arguments, Hamilton said the sides will both file a series of briefs for the judge to weigh with testimony from the hearing.
“We’re not looking at a decision until, at the very earliest, February of next year,” Hamilton said.
But the judge’s ruling may not settle the issue. Hamilton said it could be appealed.
