EPHRAIM — More than half of the Ephraim police department is threatening to resign after the city announced they plan to reinstate the police chief.
Larry Golding, Jared Hansen and Darren S. Pead were the officers who blew the whistle on Cheif Ron Rasmussen. After an internal investigation it was determined the man had been filling out incident reports incorrectly. He told the city it was because the department was understaffed, but in a letter released today his officer explained they felt he still should have been fired.
“We write today to resign, effective the moment Chief Rasmussen is reinstated, and to put the community that we have loved and served collectively for nearly (two) decades on notice that we have lost all confidence in our chief and in the city officials that are responsible now for a coverup of epic proportions,” the letter said.
City manager, Bret Hanson, said that lack of confidence was apparent to the city.
“That’s the challenge we were dealing with: the three officers against the two leadership positions. It was completely divided.” Hason said.
He explained that the city is disappointed with the officer’s decision but looks forward to starting over with a clean slate. As for Rasmussen, the man said they made the right decision.
“The Chief could have been a little bit more direct, we need more officers, and we could have listened a little bit more. So I think there was some blame on the administration side.”
He said they plan to make several changes, primary among them to hire more officers.