BACA COUNTY, Colorado — The Town of Springfield, Colorado has temporarily lost its police force. Baca County Sheriff Aaron Shiplett and Springfield Mayor Tyler Gibson announced on social media Friday that the town's chief of police and two other officers resigned earlier this week.
The sheriff's office will assume responsibility for law enforcement in the community. Sheriff Shiplett stressed that the arrangement is temporary until the town trustees can hire a replacement force.
In a statement, Mayor Gibson said that the officers resigned to take other jobs, and the Chief cited personal reasons for his departure. The statement says that there were no allegations of wrongdoing by the Chief or any of the officers, and that the timing of the resignations was "unfortunate."
The Town of Springfield plans to replace the Chief and officers who left. Until then, they're warning the public against committing crimes during the transition period.
"We also want to make this message very clear to anyone thinking this is an opportune time to commit crimes or victimize anyone in Baca County," the statement reads. "You are free to test that assumption at your convenience, however, we will warn you, the community is fed up with it, law enforcement will be here in force, they will exhaust every resource at their disposal in finding you, and the lights are always on at the Baca County Jail and we still have a few bunks available."
Springfield, located about 48 miles south of Lamar, is home to about 1,400 residents.
The three-person Springfield Police Department had been embroiled in controversy since 2019, according to a Colorado Sun investigation. That year, the town fired its police chief for alleged unprofessional behavior and later paid $50,000 to settle claims that one of its officers acted inappropriately toward a 15-year-old girl.
In that same investigative report, the Sun uncovered the department had fired another officer who had only been on the job for six months after a series of bad interactions with residents. The Sun found that officer was let go from his previous job in law enforcement after a series of “alleged transgressions.”
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