A small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore has suspended its entire police force pending the results of an investigation by state prosecutors, a largely unexplained decision that has left residents shocked, skeptical and on edge.

The unusually harsh crackdown on law enforcement in Ridgely suggests that even some of the country’s most rural communities are feeling the effects of the national reckoning on policing that unfolded in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.

With the Ridgely Police Department temporarily defunct, other public safety agencies have agreed to fill the void. But residents of the historic town are concerned about response times should they need assistance. And they remain entirely in the dark about why their police department was shut down.