We live in interesting times. You won’t see a headline every day about an entire police department walking out the door at once but that is exactly what just happened in Kimberling City, Missouri. The Hill:
Citing problems like an inadequate pay rate and not having the right tools to do the job, the department has local leaders struggling to find replacements, especially when rhetoric against law enforcement is high amongst some, Fox News reported.
“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 of the resignations at the Kimberling City Police Department, noting that most police stations are understaffed.
What preempted the mass exodus, according to Rader, was Kimberling City Police Chief Craig Alexander’s resignation on Aug. 23. He wanted changes from the town’s mayor and he wanted to better himself, Fox News reported.
Soon after, Alexander’s resignation was joined by three officers and a sergeant, with their reasons for quitting being the absence of a police clerk to assist the department, not having qualified officers in the department, and wanting new opportunities with a better pay rate, according to NBC Springfield, Missouri.
It is being reported that some of the Kimberling City Police Officers left to join the Branson West Police Department, which caught Mayor Bob Fritz of Kimberling City off guard.
This particular circumstance sounds like an anomaly, a situation where a badly run police department was finally given up on. That makes sense. But if it’s a harbinger of things to come it could be very bad. The sudden shutting down off too many police departments would be the beginning of vigilante justice and potentially a societal meltdown. This isn’t hyperbole. The cops do everything from get out there and direct traffic when there’s a burnt out stop light to delivering babies in squad cars, or rushing heart attack victims to ERs. Eliminating the local constabulary is not a recipe for anything but trouble. This is not a good omen.
Kimberling City has fewer that 3000 people. I don’t see how it can afford more than three or four officers. Maybe they should look into a contract with the county sheriff’s department, or joining with some of the towns nearby.
Yeah, in MT towns with that few people rely on county sheriffs: and MT counties beat the holy hell out of MO counties in size. I get the cops-they probably weren’t getting paid as much as they could make in larger towns/cities. That just underscores the need for consolidation among towns or sheriff’s departments taking care of the towns as well as the counties. It a simple calculus so it figures MO residents didn’t not understand.