Price City Police Captain Continues to Raise Concerns

During the public comment period of the July 10 Price City Council meeting, Captain Brandon Ratcliffe of the Price City Police Department (PCPD) visited the council again to speak.

At the previous meeting, the Captain and many members of the PCPD had expressed to Council members their deep concerns about the new budget. This time, Captain Ratcliffe told Council that he was committed to those he works with and for to continue to attend meetings and bring issues to light.

Captain Ratcliffe stated that he felt that Council members may not be adequately informed about certain emerging matters and he wished they had as accurate information as possible.

He said that the problem in recent weeks has been sick leave. He was told that an officer cannot take sick leave, although the newspaper said that sick leave could be used to care for immediate family members for the benefit of the family if necessary.

The Captain further stated that this is not the Director of Finance’s problem and they should not be contacted by that Director to say that sick leave is not available, especially when it is in the policy. Captain Ratcliffe said that he is happy to take the criticism, but the public needs to be aware, especially when it comes to what he believes is clear bias by city officials against the police department.

The council asked the captain for further clarification on this particular issue. He said he had been on the phone with the city’s finance director, who wanted to know who was sick. When the captain explained that he believed this was in line with policy, he read the information to her as well.

According to Captain Ratcliffe, the finance director stated on several occasions that “this kind of thing is not done” and he advised her to look into the policies herself. He was then told he would receive another call from someone in the city, but at the time of the meeting he had heard nothing further.

The Captain also reaffirmed the fact that the Council had promised to open the budget sometime after July. On this matter, Captain Ratcliffe informed the Council that he had an open door and was available at any time.