Polygamy abusers in uniform deserve harsh treatment
 
Topic Opinion
Provo Daily Herald
 
File this one under "Duh." The Utah Peace Officers Standards and Training Council, the entity that establishes the rules for Utah's police officers, has decided it will punish police officers who practice polygamy. The POST Council decided such officers are breaking their oath to uphold the law.

The decision came after the conviction of Rodney Holm, a police officer in the polygamist enclave of Hildale, on charges of unlawful sex with a minor. He had taken a teenager as a polygamist wife. Holm was sentenced to a year in prison for the offense.

The fact that it took the conviction of a police officer to bring the Officer Standards Council to this momentous decision is a reflection of the ambivalence that prevails in Utah on the question of polygamy.

The council's soft stance -- that it will punish (it did not say prosecute) offending officers -- is a reflection of the double standard that prevails. When a Tom Green can be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for a technical violation, and when the very girl he married decades ago is now an adult who, far from wanting out, professes her love for him and has become his chief defender, inequity comes plainly into view.

Let's have a little consistency here. If Green can be sent to jail, so should any polygamist police officers.

But let us be clear. There's an important distinction between a sexual relationship with a consenting adult woman and a relationship with a child. There is little point in disrupting consenting adult relationships like Green's, where no abuse is occurring and the people involved are happy with their lives. The state should always step in, however, to protect victims of abuse -- those who are held against their will or who are subjected to physical or emotional harm. Women in abusive relationships or girls who are too young to marry (which by definition constitutes abuse) should have a way out. Their abusers should be stopped by every means at society's disposal.

Holm will at least do some time, though he is getting a light sentence. But he's not likely the only offender. Evidence suggests there are others like him still flouting the law. Administrative leaves or even dismissals from law enforcement will not cut it. Any abuser should be punished, but an abuser with a badge should be handled harshly.

Clearly, keeping police officers who practice polygamy off the force is a good thing. It will make it easier for women and girls in the polygamist subculture to come forward and report abuse to the authorities. When the authorities are themselves polygamists, hopelessness becomes the norm. And that has to stop.

POST is sending a long overdue message that peace officers are required to uphold all of Utah's laws, not just the ones that don't conflict with their personal beliefs. Now the state's prosecutors should roll into high gear against all polygamist abusers.
 
HarkTheHerald.com
Originally published Sunday, September 26, 2004
 
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