The surprising reason behind this Minnesota police force's mass resignation

Every single officer in a Minnesota town's police force has resigned, NBC reports.

Per NBC, Police Chief Josh Smith of Goodhue — a town made up of about 1,200 people — "submitted his resignation at a City Council meeting last Wednesday," before "a full-time officer and five part-time employees resigned two days after having learned about Smith."

During the City Council meeting, Mayor Anderson Buck said, "The Goodhue Police Department resigned because of issues with the city's pay," according to the report.

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Prior to Smith's resignation, he said during "a July 26 council meeting," that "there were 'zero applicants' for the police department and disclosed that other law enforcement agencies were trying to recruit him and his colleagues."

He emphasized, "So right now with our current — trying to hire at $22 an hour, you're never going to see another person again walk through those doors. That's it. Unless you guys do a dramatic change. There's zero incentive to come out here to a small town, low pay, being on call, affecting your free time and everything else."

According to KARE 11 News, Smith "is reportedly taking another policing job in Lake City," Minnesota.

However, Anderson Buck claims "the police department's resigning 'is not unusual — it does happen,'" according to NBC. "We're not the first, and we won't be the last. I want to reiterate that we will have police coverage in the city of Goodhue. That is not an issue."

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Despite her optimism, KARE11 reports Anderson Buck said, "We are all devastated by this. We're trying to muddle through this and do the best we can and provide service for our community."

The mayor added, "Since the resignations have been handed in by our police department, it has been recommended by our city attorney that at this point we need to pursue our other options. So, at this point, there's no reason to really talk about pay increases, since we no longer have a police force."

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NBC's full report is available at this link. KARE 11 News' report is here.