Minnesota town police force has 'zero applicants' after everyone quits

The entire police force of Goodhue, Minn., has resigned and the town has no applicants to fill the vacancies, leaving the future of law enforcement in the community uncertain.

Police Chief Josh Smith will remain in the post until Aug. 24, but has told the city he could not find anyone willing to join the force, Fox News reported.

"This has been three weeks now, we have zero applicants, and I have zero prospects. I’ve called every PD around for the youngest guys out there, getting into the game. There's nobody getting into the game," he said in late July. "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."

Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck told Fox 9 that the city was "a little bit blindsided by it, but we're resilient, and we're going to move forward." Buck further insisted the city would continue to operate a police force. City Councilman Chris Schmit offered praise for the force's prior performance, saying "they provided excellent safety and security to our community. And the small town policing that they did, we want that back."

Goodhue is situated southeast of Minneapolis, the site of considerable "defund the police" demonstrations in the wake of the 2020 death of George Floyd.

While the town of 1,300 seeks to replace its resigning officers, the Sheriff's department will take over the department's active cases in the interim, according to MPR News.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.