Colorado town’s entire police department quits
GREEN MOUNTAIN FALLS, Colo. (KXRM) – The town of Green Mountain Falls no longer has any police. The chief announced his resignation on Thursday, April 14, with the three other officers following his lead.
An anonymous source said the entire department quit over policy and unhappiness with the new mayor, who was sworn in just Tuesday night. As of Monday, their resignations went into effect, leaving the folks of Green Mountain Falls with no cops and a lot of questions.
“Our marshal and three deputies quit so that’s about all they said,” Ann Pinell said.
In a town meeting Tuesday night, citizens were informed of the situation, but said they still don’t why the entire force is quitting.
“We’ve had our hometown marshal for many, many years so I sure hope we get another marshal in our town,” said Pinell.
WISH-TV’s sister station KXRM went to the police station to see if anyone was there and what we could find out. Lights out and not a soul in sight, but we were able to track down the newly-elected mayor.
“In an election year there’s always some people who choose to stay and some people who choose to go and I think that happens at every level of government,” said Jane Newberry, Mayor of Green Mountain Falls.
A town meeting summary hanging in the post office states the acceptance of Chief Bradley and his staff’s resignations, but other than that, the town is left wondering what happened.
“He is pursuing other opportunities as I understand and good luck to him but that’s not to say that we are without police coverage,” Newberry said.
Green Mountain Falls is home to nearly 700 people, but in the summer that number can go up to 1,200. With no local police, its only law enforcement presence is left up to El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
“They should absolutely feel safe,” said Newberry. “I have every confidence in El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. I always have and there’s no reason anybody needs to worry. We are a small community and it’s one of our advantages is we all look out for each other.”
According to the sheriff’s office, as of now they’ll do their normal amount of patrolling unless there’s a need for more.
Some of the people KXRM spoke to said they’re confident the sheriff’s office will do their part to keep the town safe, but they’re worried local ordinances won’t be enforced.
Newberry tells us as soon as budgets are nailed down, they’ll start looking to hire new officers.
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