Milner, GA police resign over alleged GPS tracker on chief

Milner, Georgia, a Lamar County town of 772 people, is set to lose its whole police department on Oct. 28. Police Chief Lamar Bunn and the department’s full-time officers have resigned, most of the department’s reserve officers are leaving with them, and City Manager Tausha Grose has quit too, CBS News Atlanta reported in a story updated Oct. 22. The officers’ complaints center on one allegation that Mayor Craig Timmons has not publicly answered: that he bought a GPS tracker with his own money and put it on the chief’s vehicle.

Timmons has not been charged with anything, and no agency has publicly said it found wrongdoing. He has declined to address the tracker allegation directly. CBS News Atlanta said it could not reach him. As of Friday, Oct. 23, neither the city nor the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office had publicly announced who will police Milner once the officers leave.

The resignations were announced at the City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 19. Police1, which covered the walkout on Oct. 21, put the number of full-time officers at five, with all five resigning. Grose has been with the city for six years. Her last day is Oct. 30.

What the officers say

The tracker allegation also appears in writing. A resignation letter obtained by WSB-TV complained that Timmons had allegedly used his own money to buy a vehicle tracker and installed it on Bunn’s vehicle, Police1 reported. The same officer also objected to the department’s policy on off-duty work and criticized the “judgment and decision-making” of the mayor and some council members.

Bunn told WSB-TV he asked an outside agency whether the tracker violated the law or his rights, Police1 reported. The agency was not named.

At the council meeting, Bunn confirmed that a tracker had been placed on his vehicle, which The Herald Gazette, the Barnesville newspaper that covers Lamar County, described as his police vehicle. Several Atlanta TV stations instead described it as his personal truck, and none of the reporting reviewed for this story has settled who owns it. He did not limit his complaint to the tracker. “We have cameras and trackers on us and no one authorized it; no one knew about it,” Bunn said, according to The Herald Gazette. The paper reported that the resignations also cited a surveillance camera aimed at City Hall.

According to CBS News Atlanta, Bunn said officers could no longer trust that cameras or tracking devices weren’t being used on them without their knowledge. He presented it as a loss of trust rather than a fight that couldn’t be resolved. “So it’s the trust issue. If it can be fixed, we need to fix it,” he said, CBS News Atlanta reported. Bunn also said he did not ask any of his officers to resign with him.

Grose spoke in similar terms. “The trust is gone. I have been rendered ineffective in my position,” she said, as quoted by CBS News Atlanta. She added: “It breaks my heart to have to resign.”

The off-duty work dispute

The resignations followed a dispute over off-duty work, but Grose and Bunn both rejected the idea that it caused them, CBS News Atlanta reported. Grose said officers could still keep part-time jobs elsewhere. They were only temporarily barred from using city vehicles for that work. The Herald Gazette described the measure differently, as a ban on officers working part-time jobs elsewhere, and reported that it came out of a council executive session earlier in October that Bunn was barred from attending.

What the mayor says

Timmons has neither confirmed nor denied placing the tracker. When a speaker raised the issue at the Oct. 19 meeting, he had no comment, Police1 reported. As of Oct. 21 he had not responded to WSB-TV’s requests for comment, according to Police1.

Afterward, The Herald Gazette asked him directly whether he had put a tracker on the chief’s vehicle. He did not give a direct answer. “I had questions,” Timmons told the paper. He also said, “No one expected all this (the resignations) to happen,” and, “There are things that can’t be said.” CBS News Atlanta, citing the same paper, reported that the mayor had not expected the resignations.

The Herald Gazette did not report who placed the tracker, and none of the outlets reviewed for this story has published a document showing who bought or installed it.

Councilman Ryan Lewis said he understood that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was looking into the tracker allegation, The Herald Gazette reported. The GBI has not publicly confirmed an investigation in any of the reporting reviewed for this story. Lewis’s comment describes his own understanding, not a confirmed state inquiry.

The Herald Gazette also reported that both sides left the meeting saying there was room to negotiate on the problems and on withdrawing the resignations. No reporting through Oct. 22 said any resignation had been rescinded.

Who answers 911 after Oct. 28

As of Oct. 22, city officials had not publicly announced who will patrol Milner after its officers leave. CBS News Atlanta reported that it did not name a replacement force. One departing officer told the station that most, if not all, of the officers will go to work for other agencies.

At least one resident expects the county to fill the gap. Resident Jennifer Holloway told CBS News Atlanta that “the county will, you know, take over.” The station did not confirm what county services would be provided. The Lamar County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Brad White and based in Barnesville, had posted no statement about Milner on its website as of Oct. 23. On the city’s public safety page, Bunn was still listed as chief, and there was no notice about the transition.

Former council member Skip Seda told the council he will push to unincorporate Milner if the city loses its police force, CBS News Atlanta reported. The council’s next scheduled meeting is Nov. 16 at 6 p.m.

Other towns that lost their whole departments

Small departments have collapsed this way before. When that happens, the county sheriff usually takes over, at least for a while:

Goodhue, Minnesota (August 2023): Chief Josh Smith, an officer and several part-timers resigned before a council discussion of police pay. The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office announced a tentative agreement to police the town for the rest of the year, CBS News Minnesota reported.
Marble Hill, Missouri (August 2024): The chief, a captain and two patrol officers resigned over budget cuts. The Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office then negotiated with the city to keep coverage going, Police1 reported.
Geary, Oklahoma (October 2024): The chief and the full force resigned on the same day two council members quit. The city put an interim chief in charge, and two county sheriff’s offices helped, according to Police1.
Mitchellville, Iowa (January 2026): After leadership turnover, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office began interim 24/7 coverage. The mayor said the sheriff’s office would bill the city, Police1 reported.

Milner stands out from those cases because of the reason given. In most of them, pay, budgets or leadership churn drove the exits. In Milner, the officers say they quit over alleged surveillance of the chief.

What Georgia law says

Georgia’s eavesdropping and surveillance statute, O.C.G.A. § 16-11-62, includes one provision written specifically for GPS trackers. Paragraph (8), added in 2022, makes it unlawful to intentionally and secretly place a GPS or other electronic monitoring device on a motor vehicle owned or leased by another person, without that person’s consent. It applies only when the vehicle’s owner or lessee has a protective order against the person placing the device. Nothing reported about Milner suggests a protective order is involved.

Under § 16-11-69, violating that part of the code is a felony punishable by one to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

Another part of the same statute bars using a device to observe, photograph or record someone’s activities “in any private place and out of public view” without consent. Its relevance to a tracker on a vehicle driven on public roads is unclear. Georgia’s stalking law, O.C.G.A. § 16-5-90, covers a person who “follows, places under surveillance, or contacts another person” without consent for the purpose of harassing and intimidating that person. A first offense is a misdemeanor.

Reports differ on whether the tracked vehicle was a city police vehicle or Bunn’s personal truck, and that distinction could matter. If it was city property, questions about who controls city vehicles and employees may matter more than these statutes. No outlet has reported a prosecutor’s view. Whether any law was broken is for investigators and, if it gets that far, a court.

Milner police resignation timeline

Early October 2026: The council restricts officers’ outside work. CBS News Atlanta described a temporary bar on using city vehicles for it; The Herald Gazette described a ban on part-time jobs elsewhere, set in an executive session Bunn could not attend.
Oct. 19: At the City Council meeting, Grose announces her resignation and the police department’s. Bunn says his last day is Oct. 28. Timmons does not comment on the tracker.
Oct. 21: Police1 reports the walkout, citing a resignation letter obtained by WSB-TV that describes the alleged tracker.
Oct. 22: CBS News Atlanta updates its report. No replacement force has been named, and the station cannot reach the mayor.
Oct. 28: The police department’s last day.
Oct. 30: Grose’s last day as city manager.
Nov. 16: The next scheduled City Council meeting, at 6 p.m.