Colorado City police torn between religion and law
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 9, 2007

COLORADO CITY - One by one, police officers in Colorado City are being stripped of their law-enforcement certification because they cannot serve two masters: a polygamous church and their oath to uphold the law.

In a police department normally staffed with just six full-time officers, four have lost their badges in recent years. Two more, including town Marshal Fred Barlow, are awaiting decertification rulings from the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, or Arizona POST.

All the ousted officers belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that teaches salvation is attained through plural marriage. Authorities from Utah and Arizona have cracked down on FLDS child marriages and fraud in this isolated red-rock country. the rest