Minnesota town’s entire police force resigns, leaving chief with ‘zero prospects’

Goodhue, Minnesota, a small town in the southeastern part of the state, lost its entire police force after the chief and other members of the force handed in their resignations.

“I think we’re all a little bit blindsided by it, but we’re resilient and we’re going to move forward,” Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck told Fox 9. 

“I want to reiterate that we will have police coverage in the city of Goodhue,” Buck said. “That is not an issue.” 

Police Chief Josh Smith, who will continue to serve in his position until Aug. 24, told city officials that he could not find anyone to sign up to join the police force. 

“This has been three weeks now, we have zero applicants, and I have zero prospects,” Smith said on July 26. “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.” 

One Goodhue City council member praised the police force for maintaining law and order in the town of Goodhue. 

“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.” 

Police Chief Smith also told the Goodhue city council that the police force was losing on recruitment numbers because of low pay and competition from larger cities. 

The largest city in Minnesota, Minneapolis, is the site of one of the most important policing stories of the last decade. 

The last ex-Minneapolis police officer to be convicted following the death of George Floyd received a sentence of 4 years and 9 months on Aug. 7.

Before the sentencing was decided, Thao took time to talk about Jesus, recalling how while “distressed” in prison over the “false narratives” surrounding the case, he was reading the Bible. 

The Goodhue Police Department, the mayor and members of the city council did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.