Milner, Georgia, has 772 residents and, as of Oct. 28, it will have no full-time police officers. At Monday’s city council meeting, Mayor Craig Timmons was asked about a tracking device allegedly placed on the police chief’s truck. According to WSB-TV, his answer was: “I have no comment.”
That meeting, on Oct. 19, is where city administrator Tausha Grose (some outlets call the job city manager) announced that the entire full-time police department had resigned, along with most of the part-time officers. She said she is leaving too, effective Oct. 30. Chief Lamar Bunn is among those going. Grose told the council, “The trust is gone,” as CBS News Atlanta reported.
What is confirmed so far
The council meeting was recorded and posted to Facebook, according to CBS News Atlanta, and several Atlanta stations have obtained the resignation letters. WSB-TV and Atlanta News First say they got theirs through Georgia open-records requests. The Auto Wire has not independently obtained the video or the letters, so the details below are attributed to the outlets that did, and allegations are labeled as allegations.
Bunn told the council that a tracker was on his truck, that it was paid for with personal funds, and that it was installed without the knowledge of the council or his supervisor, per Fox News Digital. WSB-TV reported that Bunn says the mayor paid for it himself.
Then comes the detail everyone is repeating. Bunn told WSB-TV that Timmons asked for the tracker back in front of several people, and did it while shaking his hand. Bunn’s version, at least. Timmons has not confirmed or denied it. WSB-TV and Fox News Digital each said they reached out to him without a reported reply, and CBS News Atlanta, citing the Herald Gazette, said he declined to say directly whether he placed a tracker.
Several widely shared headlines say the chief “discovered” a tracker. The reporting from the meeting supports something narrower: the chief says one exists, and the mayor has not said otherwise. None of the coverage reviewed says how the device was found, what kind it is, whether it was removed, or whether the truck belongs to the city or to Bunn personally. Bunn told WSB-TV that he does not object to the city tracking his truck through proper channels, and that he checked with an outside agency about whether the placement broke the law or violated his rights. No charges or findings have been reported.
Not the overtime fight, they say
Milner had been arguing over officers’ outside work. Grose said officers could keep part-time jobs but were temporarily barred from using city vehicles for them. She and Bunn both told the council that dispute was not why the department resigned, per CBS News Atlanta. Bunn said he did not ask his officers to quit and was not the first to turn in a letter.
The letters themselves point at leadership. Bunn’s cites differences over leadership, governance and ethics, as Fox News Digital reported. Captain Craig Walton’s, according to that outlet, asks for an independent investigation of the mayor. Those are the writers’ positions, not findings.
What happens next
The department’s last day is Oct. 28, and Atlanta News First reports the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office is expected to handle law enforcement. Former council member Skip Seda said at the meeting that he will push to unincorporate Milner, arguing the city’s charter requires it to have a police department. We have not independently checked the charter language. The council’s next regular meeting is Nov. 16 at 6 p.m., per CBS News Atlanta.
Trackers are designed to go unnoticed. This alleged one has become the most discussed object in a town of 772.
The mayor won’t say yes or no on a tracker on the chief’s truck, and the whole police force just walked out. Is “no comment” a survivable answer in a town that size?
Image credits: Lead image, Lamar County Courthouse in Barnesville, by John Trainor via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). In-article image, police SUV file photo, by Raymond Wambsgans via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). Neither image shows Milner Police Department property. Reporting drawn from coverage by WSB-TV, CBS News Atlanta, Fox News Digital and Atlanta News First; population figure from the 2020 census as listed on Wikipedia.