A tiny town in Indiana is officially without a police force, after the town marshal and four other officers resigned on Monday. “The Town is currently without the Police Department,” read a reassuring sign posted outside of the Bunker Hill police department. “In the case of an emergency please call 911.” The marshal, Michael Thomison, blamed the Bunker Hill Town Council for the big exodus.

“[The council] would not communicate with us or the officers and they kept scaling back,” Thomison told a local TV station. He said that some members of the council asked the officers to do “illegal, unethical, and immoral things,” such as running background checks on other town councilors. They were threatened when they declined the councilors’ requests, Thomison said.

So who will protect Bunker Hill, a town with an estimated 2015 population of 858, in the meantime? The sheriff of Miami County, which includes Bunker Hill, said county deputies will patrol the town and respond to calls until a new marshal is hired. The town’s website has a job listing for a part-time marshal.

Bunker Hill issues statement after entire police force resigns https://t.co/QMeFTJmNOp via @cbs4indy

— Ms Marvel (@jeana_guzman) December 15, 2016

Thomison also claims that he and the other officers were forced to share one set of body armor. “I did not want to send someone out there with bad body armor so I would take mine off and provide it to the other officers,” he said. In a statement, the Bunker Hill Town Council denied all of Thomison’s allegations, and blamed disagreements over a “lack of funding available to the town to invest in the police department.”

Thomison also had a more personal beef with the council. He was diagnosed with cancer last year, and in May, he told the council he was ready to get back to work full time. The council however, would only take him in a part-time role. “They came at me and said it is costing the town way too much money because of my insurance and they said we are taking you down to part time,” he said.

The Bunker Hill Town Council, in its statement, said the “resignation of the entire police force has come as a shock,” and it was never the goal “to dismantle or otherwise endanger the town police department or officers.” The council thanked the officers for their service, and “asks for patience from the town residents in this process.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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