Ogden police chief and mayor cleared in probe

OGDEN — The Weber County Attorney's Office has released its findings of a probe looking into the activities of Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner and Mayor Matthew Godfrey in the suspension of an officer whose wife was seen driving a moving van with signs critical of Godfrey.

According to the findings, Godfrey did not do anything illegal in following the van, recording the license plate and conveying the information to Greiner.

The report, however, does offer suggestions on how the situation may have been handled differently.

Mark DeCaria's office started an investigation in August at the request of Godfrey. It looked into whether Greiner followed proper procedure in putting officer Matt Jones on administrative leave with pay. Greiner said the suspension stemmed from citizen complaints unrelated to the van incident.

The report said had the county attorney been advising on the issue, it would have recommended a delay in the suspension to preclude any notion of a connection between Jones' leave and the van controversy and to provide time for more investigation into the citizen complaints.

Jones was put on leave July 27, the same day his wife was seen driving a moving van with signs on it saying "Welcome to Ogden City. Home of Godfrey's ticket quota."

It referenced complaints from the Ogden Police Benefit Association, Ogden firefighters, their families and residents about a sliding evaluation scale, which factored in the number of tickets issued by an officer.

The sliding scale was rescinded by the Ogden City Council in August.

Jones remains on leave while an internal investigation into the citizen complaints is being completed.

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