Utah police standards appointee on hold over retaliation claim

Utah leaders have halted plans to rent the Wasatch County sheriff to move the state workplace that investigates police misconduct after a video confirmed him threatening an officer who filed an inner affairs report towards a supervisor.

What’s taking place: The state Division of Public Security has indefinitely postponed the appointment of Sheriff Jared Rigby as director of its Peace Officer Requirements and Coaching (POST) unit, FOX 13 reported.

• A FOX 13 investigation final 12 months uncovered a video exhibiting Rigby telling a Heber Metropolis police officer his “notion was mistaken” when the officer reported that his chief, Dave Sales space, used extreme drive when Sales space grabbed the suspect by the throat throughout a March 2021 arrest.
• Rigby warns the officer, “You’ll be able to dig in your heels,” however it’ll put future promotions in jeopardy.

Why it issues: As POST director, Rigby would oversee the coaching and conduct of Utah’s 9,000 or so regulation enforcement officers, in addition to the investigation of scores of misconduct complaints every year.

Particulars: In November, when the state introduced Rigby had been appointed as the brand new POST director, the use-of-force grievance towards Sales space was nonetheless beneath investigation — and as of Monday it nonetheless hadn’t been accomplished, FOX 13 reported.

• A Heber Metropolis sergeant additionally filed a witness intimidation grievance towards Rigby, however POST didn’t examine as a result of it’s outdoors the scope of investigations it’s licensed to deal with.

Of word: Public Security Commissioner Jess Anderson informed FOX 13 he did not know the specifics of the open investigation and he wasn’t conscious of the video of Rigby till after he introduced his appointment.

• Sure, however: The video has been featured in information protection and viewable on FOX 13’s web site for greater than a 12 months.

• The POST council — which Rigby was serving on when he was appointed — beneficial him for the job, and his appointment was authorized by Gov. Spencer Cox.

The most recent: Anderson mentioned the video is “definitely regarding” and canceled Rigby’s swearing-in, which was scheduled for Monday morning.

• DPS officers will proceed his pre-employment background investigation and report their findings on to Cox, who will determine whether or not Rigby might be sworn in, a DPS spokesperson informed Axios.
• Rigby has already stepped down from his elected place as Wasatch County sheriff, in addition to one other job working for BYU’s police division, in an effort to take the pending place with POST. He stays a licensed lawyer in Utah.