Mayor, Minco Police Officers Resign After City Proposes Cutting Police Budget In Half

The town of Minco saw mass resignations this week after the city proposed to cut the police department's budget in half.

Minco Police Chief Josh Fletcher turned in his badge this week after serving the community for more than five years.

“I have appreciated my time as the chief here and my time before as the patrolman and I wish nothing but the best for the city of Minco, the Minco police department and the town,” Fletcher said.

Three officers decided to leave as well. Now, there are only three left to patrol the town. 

The reasoning behind the departures is that the city proposed cutting the police force's budget in half. Fletcher believes they wanted to give more money to the utilities department.

“It caused a reduction in our training funds to where the officers would have for the department $1,000 to spend for training and it cuts the vehicle maintenance budget. It was cut to $5,000 for the year that's to maintain all the vehicles, there's six currently,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher said the drop in funds would make it difficult to prioritize safety.

“Once those officers start working multiple days in a row for 12 hours and they have to cover a day because somebody was sick. It worries me how tired they're going to be. They might make a mistake that hurts somebody else,” Fletcher said.

Until a new chief is appointed, Grady County deputies will be pitching in responding to priority calls.

“When you have a police department in place and you want to go cut their budget in half well, you’re hurting the citizens and plus you have employees now that are needing jobs,” Gary Boggess said.

“If we have a lack of police presence in the area it's going to make a bigger target for Minco to have property crimes,” Fletcher said.

This budget was not only the last straw for Fletcher but Mayor Keith McMullen as well. The mayor submitted his resignation letter May 30, citing town safety and protection.

News 9 reached out to the city for a comment but there was no one available.