A small Texas police department has been ordered to shut down as it failed to meet the minimum standards required of a law enforcement agency.
The decision affects the police department in Trinidad. Going forward, policing in the community will be handled by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office.
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement notified Trinidad Mayor Dennis Haws of the decision in a letter dated September 9. According to KETK, the agency determined that the department had “failed to meet minimum standards” and was “unable to provide evidence that the agency provides public benefit to the community.”
State regulators also found 18 policies that the department was lacking.
The decision comes months after the department faced national attention over the arrest of a local mother who had publicly raised concerns about Trinidad’s drinking water.
Jennifer Combs had posted on social media about problems with the town’s water supply. In her post, she alleged that a bacteria in the water had resulted in people being hospitalized.
Failed to meet minimum standards
Combs was subsequently arrested in May on suspicion of felony false alarm or report.
Police defended the arrest, saying her post had created “fear, panic, or unnecessary emergency response within a community,” according to UNILAD.
But the town had itself issued a warning about the water supply just weeks earlier. On April 21, Trinidad officials told residents to boil their water before drinking it to “avoid harmful bacteria.”
Despite that warning, Trinidad Police Chief Charles Gregory continued to defend the case against Combs, describing it as “cut and dry.”
The controversy grew further when police arrested Winston Noles, a supporter of Combs who works as a citizen journalist. According to FOX 4, Noles was arrested for misdemeanor disorderly conduct after displaying a sign outside City Hall that read “**** bad cops.”
Police ultimately dropped the charges against both Combs and Noles.
Gregory resigned as police chief on June 19.
“We were never the problem”
Combs has since addressed the department’s shutdown in another Facebook post, writing: “For months, citizens who questioned this department were dismissed, attacked and in my case arrested.
“Now the state agency responsible for regulating Texas law enforcement has confirmed that this department could not demonstrate compliance with even the minimum standards.
“We were never the problem. We were exposing it.”
The Trinidad Police Department had five full-time officers along with a number of part-time officers before the state’s decision.
Haws told FOX 4 News that the department’s history of problems was not a surprise.
“There’s been a lot of neglect through the years. We are moving in a positive direction. We’ve got to get past all of this.”
He also said the decision to disband the department was “not a shock.”
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