Dear Editor,

I appreciate Chief Tom Ross of Bountiful Police Department and his community-oriented approach to customer service of his officers to residents of Bountiful. The quality of policing and public relations, integrity, and law enforcement ethics has gone downhill in Woods Cross City, since Police Chief Paul Howard retired  in 2011, and Chief Greg Butler took over. Woods Cross residents and the majority of the Woods Cross City Council I know support private property rights of residents. Chief Butler supports violating them. How?

I had an eviction to serve on my brother-in-law, and started the legal process. Respected Cpl. Jason Matthews of the Woods Cross Police Department, advised me to go through the Sheriff’s Office for evictions, and I did. So the Sheriff’s Office served the 15-day notice to vacate for me, and the eviction process moved forward.

I contacted the Davis County Sheriff’s Office on day 16 to see if the party had indeed been evicted, requested a deputy (not me) to go to the residence, step foot on the property and verify the eviction. Well, Officer Seth Ellington of Woods Cross Police, who at the time had been with the department for only 5 months, knowingly and maliciously without cause, interfered with the Sheriff’s Office’s verification if the eviction had been completed.

I requested a meeting with Butler and Mayor Kent Parry. In this meeting, Butler alleged he knew nothing of the interference and took no accountability for it. I let the chief know which officer it was who interfered, and no action was taken. Unethical and unacceptable. Any resident in Woods Cross has every right to lawfully evict someone renting in his or her home who is failing to pay, or otherwise a nuisance. I will be addressing the Woods Cross City Council in whole on Dec. 13, 2012, regarding this. Having a father retired from Bountiful Police, this type of disrespect from Woods Cross Police Department is unacceptable.

Cory Green,

Woods Cross