The entire police department in Kimberling, Missouri has resigned leaving the town with a population of around 2,400 people without a police presence, according to reports.
Three officers, a sergeant, and the police chief resigned citing several issues including inadequate pay rate and not having the right tools to do the job.
The city’s Police Chief Craig Alexander was the first to resign on Aug. 23. He told the mayor, Bob Fritz that he wanted a change and he wanted to better himself.
The three officers and a sergeant followed Alexander shortly after because there was no police clerk to assist the department, no qualified officers in the department, and they wanted new opportunities with a better pay rate, according KY3.
“It will be a struggle to fill the police department back up with qualified officers, but hopefully they can start working on that soon and get that accomplished,” Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said.
The Stone County Sheriff’s Department will handle calls until city officials can fill the spots left by the former officers.
“Until then, we will be answering all the calls in Kimberling City. We can’t enforce city ordinances, but any other calls we will be handling at this time,” Sheriff Rader said.
Chief Alexander is accepting another position with Branson West Police Department along with Officer Shaun McCafferty. Their resignations and new jobs appeared to have caught Mayor Fritz off guard.
“I didn’t know there were that many openings in Branson West because we didn’t see an advertisements for police,” Mayor Fritz said. He called the resignations “unexpected and the short notice disappointing.”
The mayor said he will move forward, addressing pay and benefits to hire and keep police officers, KY3 reports.
“We’re looking for officers, we’re looking for a new police chief and I think we’ll be fine,” Fritz said, adding that officials are working hard to fill the openings.
