TCLE cited minimum-standards failures including absent equipment and policy gaps
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement has ordered the Trinidad, Texas police department disbanded, finding that the small Henderson County agency “failed to meet minimum standards” and “was unable to provide evidence that the agency provides public benefit to the community.”
The commission’s 9 September letter to Trinidad Mayor Dennis Haws, reported by Dallas station KDFW, announced the revocation of the department’s law-enforcement license. The order follows months of scrutiny triggered by the May arrest of Jennifer Combs, a Trinidad resident who was jailed overnight after a Facebook post claimed that bacteria in the city’s water supply had hospitalized residents.
Then-Police Chief Charles Gregory said at the time that the felony charge of making a false report — later dropped — was warranted. The hospital claims, Gregory told KDFW, were “simply false and have only caused unnecessary fear and confusion in our community.”
The next day, officers arrested a Combs supporter for misdemeanor disorderly conduct after he displayed a “fuck bad cops” placard outside Trinidad’s city hall. That charge was also later dropped.
The arrests prompted the TCLE investigation. In addition to the minimum-standards finding, the commission cited specific deficiencies at the department, including the absence of bulletproof vests, the absence of an evidence room, and gaps in policies on use of force, active-shooter response, vehicle pursuits and officer professional conduct.
A separate investigation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality identified problems with Trinidad’s water supply, which city officials have promised to fix.
Gregory resigned in June, after a Henderson County grand jury declined to indict Combs. Combs has since filed a wrongful-arrest lawsuit against Trinidad, alleging that her detention was politically motivated retaliation for her public complaints about water quality.
Henderson County Judge Scott McKee has said the police department misled him, omitting key information when it sought his approval of an arrest warrant for Combs.
After the disbanding order, Combs posted on social media: “For months, citizens who questioned this [agency] 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.”
Trinidad, a municipality about 75 miles southeast of Dallas in Henderson County, employed five full-time officers and several part-timers. Police responsibilities have been transferred to the Henderson County sheriff’s office until a permanent replacement can be established.
Haws, Trinidad’s mayor, told KDFW that the state’s order was “not a shock.” He added: “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.”
The Guardian has contacted the city and police department for further comment.