City left without police force as every single officer resigns in one day
An entire police force has quit within days in one Minnesota city over a pay dispute.
The mass exodus in Goodhue was sparked by Police Chief Josh Smith when he handed in his resignation at a City Council meeting. A full-time officer and five part-time employees then left their jobs two days after Smith’s exit.
Before Smith’s resignation, at a council meeting on July 26, he said there were zero applicants for the police department vacancies created. He said: "So right now — trying to hire at $22 an hour, you're never going to see another person again walk through those doors - that's it.
"Unless you guys do a dramatic change, there's zero incentive to come out here to a small town, low pay, being on call, affecting your free time and everything else."
Smith said the issue was urgent and he claimed that smaller police departments he looked into pay at least $30 an hour, versus Goodhue’s $22 an hour.
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The small town is now without any police department (AP)The ex-Police chief disclosed that other law enforcement agencies were trying to recruit him and his colleagues. He told the city council he is taking another policing job, that had been personally offered to him, in Lake City, Minnesota.
The City Council met to discuss options for police coverage after the department’s resignation. The meeting was initially called so the city could discuss salary increases for the department, but the entire team resigned before it could happen.
Goodhue's Mayor, Anderson Buck confirmed the Goodhue Police Department resigned because of issues with the city's pay.
Anderson Buck told KARE11: "We are all devastated by this, we're trying to muddle through this and do the best we can and provide service for our community.
"Since the resignations have been handed in by our police department, it has been recommended by our city attorney that at this point we need to pursue our other options.
The mass exodus was spurred by low pay for the chief and his officers (AP)"So, at this point, there's no reason to really talk about pay increases, since we no longer have a police force."
Anderson Buck told NBC that: "The police department's resigning is not unusual — it does happen. We're not the first, and we won't be the last - I want to reiterate that we will have police coverage in the city of Goodhue, that is not an issue."
One resident told NBC that the force will be missed in the community, which experiences very little crime.
They added: "I can probably speak for everyone when I say that they provided excellent safety and security to our community. And the small-town policing that they did, we want that back."
Anderson Buck had previously said she has been in contact with the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office and had a meeting scheduled to discuss police coverage for the city in the interim. She said the police department will be on duty until Aug. 24.
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