Michael Thomison, a former marshal who worked with the department for four years, told Fox 59, "We have had issues with the town board and there are some activities there where I felt like they were serving their own agenda…They would not communicate with us or the officers and they kept scaling back."
Their resignation letters detailed complaints of councilmembers requesting they "do illegal, unethical, and immoral things," such as conducting background checks on other town officials to see if they have a criminal record, and being threatened if they refused.
The officers also voiced concerns over equipment scarcity and the lack of safety procedure, being forced to share one set of body armor, putting them at risk while in the field.
Thomison said, "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. I told them we have to provide this, there is an IC code that explains that and says that the town has to provide that body armor."
The former officer said that he was diagnosed with cancer last year, and when he returned in May after treatment he was only permitted to work part-time. Thomison believes the council did this to avoid paying for his health insurance. He intends to file suit.
He added that the town is having a difficult time replacing him and the other officers, who did not want to leave their jobs, but felt that they had to or there would be no change.
"I know that they are scrambling and have contacted some other officers that do not want the position," he said.
Council president Brock Speer told the Kokomo Tribune that, "We’re a little blindsided by everyone resigning, but it is what it is," adding that the council would release an official statement soon.
"At the end of the day, it’s the public that’s going to suffer, not the town board,” Thomison lamented, “It’s an unfortunate situation that the town finds itself in. But we’re going to take care of citizens’ needs in the interim. We will ensure they will have law enforcement present for the needs of the town."
