The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement has revoked the Trinidad Police Department’s operating license, ordering the tiny agency to disband after finding it could not prove it served any public benefit.
The commission sent Trinidad Mayor Dennis Haws a letter on Sept. 9 pulling the department’s certification, ruling the five-officer force had “failed to meet minimum standards” as a law enforcement entity. The action capped an Aug. 5 state investigation that found the department lacked 18 required policies, including guidelines on use of force, vehicle pursuit, professional conduct and active shooter response.
The department’s collapse follows the May arrest of Jennifer Combs, a local mother who spent a night in jail on a felony false alarm or report charge after she wrote on Facebook that bacteria in Trinidad’s water pipes had sent residents to the hospital. Police claimed her post had stirred “fear, panic, or unnecessary emergency response within a community.” Yet the city itself had posted a boil-water notice on April 21, weeks earlier, warning residents to “avoid harmful bacteria.”
Combs fired back on Facebook after the disbandment news broke. “For months, citizens who questioned this department were dismissed, attacked and in my case arrested,” she wrote.
“Now the state agency responsible for regulating Texas law enforcement has confirmed that this department could not demonstrate compliance with even the minimum standards,” she continued. “We were never the problem. We were exposing it.”
The arrest of Combs, 47, triggered the state investigation that ultimately doomed the department. Police Chief Charles Gregory had called the case against her “cut and dry” even as national scrutiny mounted. He resigned on June 19, telling a Trinidad City Council meeting beforehand that he had “nothing to hide” regarding the arrests of Combs and citizen journalist Winston Noles.
Noles, a supporter of Combs, had been arrested for misdemeanor disorderly conduct after displaying a “f–k bad cops” sign outside city hall. Both charges were eventually dropped.
The judge who approved Combs’ search warrant later wrote a blistering letter questioning “the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of information” presented by two Trinidad officers and raising concerns about Gregory’s leadership. The Henderson County District Attorney’s Office announced in August it would stop accepting cases from the department.
Haws told FOX 4 News the state’s decision came as “not a shock.”
“There’s been a lot of neglect through the years,” he said. “We are moving in a positive direction. We’ve got to get past all of this.”
The department, serving a municipality of roughly 800 people about 75 miles southeast of Dallas, will officially close its doors for good on Friday. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office will assume all law enforcement duties for the city.
The original incident that set off the chain of events began in April, when Combs took to Facebook to warn neighbors about brown, bacteria-laden water flowing through Trinidad’s pipes. Her post came after the city’s own boil-water advisory, yet police singled her out for prosecution while claiming she had incited panic. The arrest of Noles for his profane protest sign only deepened the outcry, drawing national media attention and prompting state regulators to examine whether the department was fit to exist at all.
