Town's Entire Police Force Suddenly Quits

The police station in a small town in the Colorado Rockies has been deserted for days after the sudden resignation of the entire police force. The marshal and three deputies in Green Mountain Falls quit last week for reasons that have not been disclosed, although the resignations are rumored to be linked to a dispute with the town's new mayor, Jane Newberry, who was sworn in last Tuesday, CNN reports. "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," Newberry tells KXRM, adding that longtime Marshal Tim Bradley is now "pursuing other opportunities." The town has a population of around 700 year-round, and more than double that in summertime.

Newberry tells the Colorado Springs Gazette that the day before she took office, the town awarded the departing chief $12,000, and she's not sure why. "It's a curious thing," she says. "Part of it was vacation pay, part of it was sick pay, and part of it was overtime pay. But if you're salaried you don't usually get that." The mayor says there have already been applications for the job of marshal and that there won't be anarchy while the position is vacant: The El Paso County Sheriff's Office, which already provided backup, will now play a greater role in the town, and other forces have offered to help out. (More Colorado stories.)