Entire police department in Minnesota quits over $22-an-hour pay

An entire police department in Minnesota has quit over a $22-an-hour pay.

Which mean the small Minnesotan town may soon be without any local law enforcement after its entire police force handed in their resignation in protest of low wages.

Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith submitted his resignation last week at a city council meeting in Goodhue, Minnesota, citing the city’s $22 an hour pay for officers. The department’s remaining team members, one full-time police officer and five part-time officers, quit their jobs shortly afterwards.

The resignations are the latest in a wave of departures at police departments across the U.S., as officers push for higher pay and less overtime.

“We can look at [pay increases] to make ourselves more marketable,” Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck, told community members at an emergency council meeting following the police chief’s resignation. “This is heartbreaking to us,” Buck said after the meeting.

Goodhue PD will serve the small town of just over 1,000 people until August 24, Buck said. The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office will take up the departing officers’ cases while the town’s officials work on rebuilding the department.

Goodhue Police Chief Smith warned of the department’s difficulties attracting young officers at a City Council meeting last month.

“This has been three weeks now that we’ve got zero applicants and I have zero prospects,” Chief Smith said at that meeting.

“Right now … trying to hire at $22 an hour, you’re never going to see another person again walk through those doors.”

Smaller departments pay at least $30 an hour, Smith told the council. Goodhue also hasn’t matched other cities’ incentives such as sign-on bonuses, which also affect recruiting, Smith said.

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