(5 Sep 2023)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4452044

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Goodhue, Minnesota – 22 August 2023
1. Wide Goodhue town sign with grain elevator
HEADLINE: End of small-town police department fuels hiring fears
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Red Wing, Minnesota – 22 August 2023
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Marty Kelly, Goodhue County Sheriff:
“It started when Goodhue was trying to hire another full-time officer. They didn’t get any applications. The chief asked for a little higher salary to get some, long story short, he ended up resigning. And so that’s what put us to essentially tomorrow at four o’clock when we’ll be taking over law enforcement in Goodhue.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Goodhue, Minnesota – 22 August 2023
3. Detail American flag
4. Various Goodhue municipal building
5. Wide workers moving boxes from police department to county truck
6. Medium former Goodhue police chief loading truck
ANNOTATION: Goodhue, Minnesota is without a police department after its two full-time officers resigned following a salary dispute with city leadership.
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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Tara Marklevits, Goodhue resident:
“I would say we’re not concerned because it’s not like we don’t have any police force. Goodhue County is just based out of Red Wing which is close, and they come into town and are driving through our town, keeping an eye on things.”
8. Wide patriotic bike riders pull into town
9. Medium Goodhue County Sheriff patrol car
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lee Ledford, Goodhue business owner:
“It’s nice to have I guess a personal relationship with police officers in town but it’s not that we don’t have that with the county guys either.”
11. Detail Goodhue County Sheriff patch
12. Wide Goodhue County Sheriff shaking hands with bike rider
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Red Wing, Minnesota – 22 August 2023
13. Wide Goodhue County building
ANNOTATION: While county deputies will be picking up the extra duties in Goodhue, Sheriff Kelly says the police department’s collapse is part of a troubling trend.
14. Various details of art in sheriff’s office
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15. SOUNDBITE (English) Marty Kelly, Goodhue County Sheriff:
“We had an intern, he is in a class of 13. There used to be 40-50 kids going to school for that. Now I know for a fact just in our southeast district there’s more than 13 openings. It’s scary, because we are not replacing those people. We are robbing Peter to pay Paul and we’re not alone.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Goodhue, Minnesota – 22 August 2023
16. Medium Goodhue County Sheriff patrol car driving out of town with lights on
STORYLINE:
The Goodhue County Sheriff's Office took over law enforcement in Goodhue, Minnesota following a decision by the City Council to disband the town department.

The community of 1,300 occupies about one square mile of land 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Minneapolis. It’s made up of tidy homes with a few small businesses — a bakery, a florist, a café, a supermarket, a taxidermist — most of them in brick storefronts in the small downtown area.

The town struggled for years with high turnover among police, in part because wages were too low to attract applicants. Town leaders boosted officer pay by 5% earlier this year and gave Police Chief Josh Smith’s a $13,000 raise.

It wasn’t enough. When Smith gave his two weeks' notice on Aug. 9, another full-time officer and five part-time employees also decided to call it quits.





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