The bartender says the state bird is a "prairie quail", and while it's never stated, the movie is shot in Utah. However, the Utah state bird is the seagull.
In addition to its patrol officers, the police force in this movie carries a more than ample full-time homicide department, including detectives trained in undercover work, surveillance, etc. But it's a sleepy little town where the string of murders that form the plot are seem to be unprecedented. How sleepy must the local taxpayers be not to question what they're paying all those professionals to do on their down-time, which must be upwards of ninety percent? It's a head-scratcher -- other than that, a great little movie.