Entire Police Force Quits After Mayor Starts Surveilling Them and Tracking Their Movement

Local authorities in Milner, Georgia hastily resigned en masse in late October after their mayor began surveilling them, according to local media reports. The mayor, Craig Timmons, had called an emergency city council meeting to disclose allegations of payroll fraud against the town's police chief, Lamar Bunn. Timmons insisted that he had set up surveillance cameras in Bunn's office and was tracking Bunn's work truck, as reported by WSBT-TV Atlanta.

The entire police force immediately tendered their resignations in a show of support for Bunn. Timmons, seemingly unprepared for this drastic outcome, expressed that his political strategy involved more than just "shaking hands and kissing babies." The police chief deflected the allegations, stating that it's "very common" for Milner officers to work off-hours and outside the city limits.

The validity of the investigation remains unclear, but the incident highlights the hypocrisy of using extensive surveillance against police officers who themselves possess advanced surveillance tools like automatic license plate readers. This raises questions about the ethical use of surveillance technology and its application to both the public and the police themselves.

This situation echoes a recent Canadian case where a civilian had constructed a license plate reader to monitor only law enforcement vehicles, leading to a confrontation between the police and the system's engineer.