MIDWAY, Utah — Police in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., have lived under a cloud for more than a decade.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued them, accusing officers of acting as polygamist leader Warren Jeffs' private army at the expense of the citizens they were supposed to serve. After a jury found the town governments discriminated against anyone who wasn't a member of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, court-ordered reforms were enacted.
"Seeing the changes that we’re making have been very good to us," Hildale/Colorado City Police Chief Robbins Radley said Thursday. "The partnerships are being restored and the trust is restored."
As an example of the changes that have swept over the communities, Chief Radley was honored on Thursday by the Utah Council on Victims of Crime for his work to make positive changes within the police force, benefiting crime victims.
"I think what’s happening in Hildale really is a lesson for our state," said Rabbi Avremi Zippel, who serves as the council chair.
Because of community mistrust in the police departments, people were reluctant to report crimes in "Short Creek," the nickname for Hildale and Colorado City.
"What Chief Radley took on when he arrived in the community was not just a community that was reticent to report crimes, but a community that had a long history of crimes not being taken care of," said Shirlee Draper, who works with Cherish Families, a nonprofit that helps people in Utah's polygamous communities and also provides victim services for the police agencies.
Since Chief Radley arrived in 2019, Draper said the changes within the police department have been significant.
"He really is just making an effort to clean up a lot of things and it takes time, right? It takes time to rebuild trust. It takes time for victims to believe justice will be served and he’s taken all that on with a patience and a grace I have found absolutely inspiring," she said.
Rabbi Zippel praised Chief Radley's efforts as a model.
"I think that a lot of people are easy to dismiss a situation as hopeless or way too far gone. It would have been easy for a lot of people to go down to Hildale and be like, 'this is a mess,'" he said. "I think the chief’s determination and devotion to it is really what’s inspiring."
In an interview with FOX 13 News on Thursday, Chief Radley acknowledged it hasn't been easy.
"When I first went out there? Not being from the community, no one really wanted to talk to me or visit," he said. "What they saw over time, what we did was unbiased policing. We were fair."
The police agencies are still under the supervision of a federal judge, which Chief Radley seemed fine with.
"It's true we are under court oversight," he said."But also we needed to bring policing up to modern-day standards. So we’ve made many changes."
Asked about recent reports from ex-FLDS Church members that children have gone missing following a "revelation" from Jeffs, Chief Radley said he could not discuss any pending cases. But he said they do offer assistance to outside police agencies.
"We do help and we help other communities as those cases come up maybe with resources or just some technical type of things," he said.
Draper said as a result of the changes, as well as a law change effectively decriminalizing polygamy in Utah, there are more people coming forward to seek help if they're a victim of a crime. But victim advocates are also seeing some significant funding cuts. Cherish Families is asking for donations to continue many of its services.
"It’s a good thing that victims are getting crime victim services. Of course, we never have the funding level we need to keep the number of advocates," Draper told FOX 13 News. "So with the VOCA [Victims of Crime Act] cuts, we’ve been cutting services and staff and that trend is continuing."
Chief Radley said there is still more work to do in the communities.
"There is more good to come. I still think we continue to reach," he said. "I don't think we’re done yet."
