Judge to mull disbanding polygamous towns' police agency

PHOENIX - A court hearing beginning Monday will explore the federal government's bid to disband the shared police department for two polygamous towns in Arizona and Utah that were found to have discriminated against nonbelievers.

The four-day hearing in Phoenix will examine remedies that U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland could order in response to a jury's finding seven months ago that nonbelievers were denied police protection, building permits and water hookups in adjacent Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

Jurors concluded officers treated nonbelievers inequitably, arrested them without having probable cause and made unreasonable searches of their property.

The towns vigorously oppose the request to disband the police department.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865665490/Judge-to-mull-disbanding-polygamous-towns-police-agency.html