The town of Goodhue, Minnesota lost its entire police force after the chief and all other members of the force resigned, according to multiple reports.
The city of 1,300 will be without local law enforcement after Aug. 23, which is the last day for Police Chief Josh Smith and another full-time officer. The town’s five part-time officers have resigned as well, according to Daily Mail.
The mass resignation reportedly occurred after a Goodhue City Council meeting on Monday over a discussion over police pay increases. The resignations were accepted in the meeting. Smith reportedly said earlier that he couldn’t find new recruits and that he’d been offered a job in a city.
“This has been three weeks now, we have zero applicants, and I have zero prospects,” Smith said on July 26, according to the New York Post. “I’ve called every PD around for the youngest guys out there, getting into the game. There’s nobody getting into the game.”
“If you want to keep the PD, and this is something we want to continue going with, something needs to change dramatically and drastically, and it’s got to happen now,” he added.
Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck reportedly said she felt “blindsided” by the mass resignation. She assured locals that there would be police coverage after the force leaves, adding that the town is “resilient and we’re going to move forward.”
At one point, Smith reportedly said that smaller departments pay at least $30 an hour, according to KNSI.
“Trying to hire at $22 an hour, you’re never going to see another person again walk through those doors,” Smith told town officials. He also told the council that the department hasn’t matched other cities’ incentives, like sign-on bonuses, which has hurt recruiting.
“We knew we were on the low side and so we were trying very, very hard to bring those numbers up,” Anderson Buck said.
A local business owner named Lydia Strusz told KARE 11 that she was “floored” by the news.
“I thought just one; I didn’t realize all of them,” she said.