The entire police department of the city of Goodhue, Minnesota, resigned last week, citing low wages as the reason, according to The Washington Post.
Police Chief Josh Smith plus another full-time officer and five part-time employees submitted their resignations with Aug. 24 being their last day on the job, Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck told The Associated Press.
According to Anderson Buck, despite the resignations, the city of 1,000 will not go without police protection. She said the city is in talks with the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office for policing coverage in the near term.
“We will have police coverage in the city of Goodhue,” the mayor said Monday at a city council meeting.
According to The Minneapolis Star Tribune, Smith told council members last month that the money offered to the officers was not enough to keep experienced officers nor to attract new recruits.
“Trying to hire at $22 an hour, you’re never going to see another person again walk through those doors,” Smith said.
He added that he had “zero applicants … and zero prospects” for new hires in July.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has the mean hourly wage for police officers in the United States at $34.32.
Buck told the Star Tribune that she was surprised because the officers had been given a 5 percent pay increase and Smith a $13,000 raise this year.
Goodhue is about 55 miles southeast of Minneapolis.
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