Town's entire police force quits, partly blames city council's alleged 'immoral' requests
The entire police force in a small Indiana town has quit to protest the town council’s funding decisions and its alleged requests that the officers perform “illegal, unethical and immoral things.”
The town marshal of Bunker Hill, Indiana, and his four volunteer reserve officers submitted their resignations Monday evening, report the Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, CNHI News Service, CBS4Indy and WLFI. The town has released a statement denying any improprieties.
Former town marshal Michael Thomison said in the resignation letter that the alleged illegal and unethical requests included asking him to conduct background checks on some town board members and requesting confidential information. He also said the town provided officers with just one bulletproof vest that had to be shared and reduced patrols to just one officer to save gas money.
Thomison also said the town cut his schedule to part-time after he was diagnosed with cancer so it would not have to provide health insurance. In addition, Thomison and another officer said in interviews with BuzzFeed News, officers were written up after they ticketed a council member’s wife and pulled over a council member with a broken taillight.
Thomison said he gave advance warning to state and county police, as well as the local prosecutor, about his plan to resign. For now, the Miami County Sheriff’s office will be handling police duties in the town.
The town council released a statement Wednesday evening denying making any illegal, unethical or immoral requests.
“Like most small towns, there have been from time to time, disagreements in the policy making process between the town council and other town departments,” the statement said. “The current town council as well as prior councils have, on occasion, had disagreements with Mr. Thomison over a number of things. These disagreements have primarily been caused by the lack of funding available to the town to invest in the police department. However, the council denies that it has failed to provide body armor for the marshal or reserve deputies. The council is well aware of Indiana law on the topic and has complied with it fully. Further, the council absolutely denies that it has ever asked Mr. Thomison or any of the reserve deputies to be involved in any illegal, unethical or immoral actions.
“The council admits that it had made a number of cuts to the police department over the last few years. This was a decision the town made due to a lack of funding. Bunker Hill is diligently working to solve this problem for the coming year. The cuts made to the police department were not made with the intention of jeopardizing the safety of any of the town’s police officers. Over the last few years, the Council has made attempts to find additional money for the department. Mr. Thomison was instrumental in obtaining a large sum of money on behalf of the town. However, he fails to state that the police department received the benefit of a large portion of that funding. …
“The resignation of the entire police force has come as a shock to the council. It has never been the goal to dismantle or otherwise endanger the town police department or officers. The council thanks these officers for their service to the town. Bunker Hill is in the process of obtaining a new marshal and reserve deputies. The council asks for patience from the town residents in this process.”
