Godfrey announced Tuesday that he asked County Attorney Mark DeCaria's office to review the matter to ensure Greiner lawfully and ethically placed Officer Matt Jones on administrative leave July 27.

“They'll also be asked to look at my involvement, limited as it was,” Godfrey said. “The people of this community need to know what happened.

"If there was something inappropriate, we'll take action,” he added. “If there was nothing inappropriate, we hope people will put this to rest.”

City Council Chairman Jesse Garcia praised the move. “It's what needed to happen,” Garcia had.

Godfrey acknowledged Ogden residents are “anxious” over the Jones' case, which has been cast by Jones' fellow officers as retribution for off-duty criticism of the city.

Greiner, who was not at Tuesday's news conference, has said he placed Jones on administrative leave because of unrelated complaints that remain under investigation.

Jones was among the police officers, firefighters and residents who last month rented a moving van and decorated it with signs critical of the city's new pay policy for police officers and firefighters.

The van was placed strategically around Ogden - at the Pioneer Day Rodeo and spots where motorists are likely to be ticketed. The van's banners blamed Godfrey for the new policy, which makes ticket writing one the 18 criteria for evaluating police officers' qualifications for pay raises.

Godfrey said Tuesday that when he saw the van in front of the Municipal Building after work on July 27, he called Greiner because he thought the woman behind the wheel was a police officer. A few minutes later, he spotted Jones, an officer he knew by sight but not by name, in a car nearby and followed the car. Jones was there to pick up his wife, Colette Jones, who had been driving the van. She is not a police officer.

The mayor said he did not ask Greiner to check the officer's car registration, and supplied the plate number only when Greiner asked. Nor did he tell Greiner to place the officer on administrative leave, the mayor said.

Within two hours of Godfrey's encounter with Jones, a lieutenant was at Jones' door, placing him on administrative leave, a circumstance Godfrey described Tuesday as bad timing.

Greiner previously had told the mayor that representatives of the Ogden Police Benefit Association had assured him the union was not involved with the van and its protest signs, Godfrey said.

“The concern I had and the chief had was that his officers weren't telling the truth,” Godfrey said. “We fire people all the time for lying.”

Several officers involved in the van protest have said they participated while off-duty and as individuals, not as a union.

Jones said Tuesday evening that he wishes the county attorney also would handle the investigation into the alleged misdeeds for which he was placed on leave.

Neither he nor the city would disclose details about those allegations, but Jones said he worries he will not be treated fairly in an internal investigation.

“There is plenty of reason for the chief to be biased in his decision,” Jones said. “It's all in-house."

As for the underlying dispute over the pay policy, Godfrey said he's not interested in revisiting the issue.

kmoulton@sltrib.com