Coffee City Texas a town with 249 residents, has fifty Police officers on the payroll.

J

jimintoronto

Well-known Member
Coffee City is located in east Texas and it has a po[pulation of only 249 people and it has become infamous for the high number of Police who are employed by the town, 37 Reserve officers and 13 full time officers including the Chief. Last year the Coffee City Police department wrote over 5,000 traffic citations, which resulted in over a million dollars of traffic fine revenue for this tiny little town.

An investigation by a Houston TV station revealed that about half of the officers now employed by the Coffee City Police were previously fired, demoted, or let go by their previous Police department for being drunk on duty, falsifying documents, illegal use of force, assaults on hand cuffed prisoners, or similar offences.

The chief of the Coffee City police department was found to be working in his uniform at an apartment building located over 200 MILES from his city. He and several of his Coffee City officers were interviewed by the deputy sheriffs at that location and the body camera footage was released to the media. They were acting as "security guards " and being paid by the owners of the apartment complex.

link. Caught on camera: Small-town police chief goes on tirade

This video is from 4 days ago. What a disgrace. JimB.
 

Hummmm. I live very near Coffee City. Interesting that I learn about this from a post on an internet site from a poster apparently living in Canada. Not surprised though since our local news stations and the newspaper seldom report anything that might require some investigative effort and certainly nothing that might reflect badly on our area - unless it’s Hispanic/African American crime. That they gladly report and print.
 
VaughanJB said:
They probably need to tighten up their recruitment requirements.
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The Chief has strongly defended his hiring practices, saying he wants to give people a "second chance ". The Chief also has a few legal problems of his own, like an outstanding Florida arrest warrant from 2008 which he "forgot to mention " when he was interviewed for the job". . He is also being investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety about some seized firearms that disappeared from the Coffee City Police property vault. And the IRS is also investigating the Coffee City Chief about undeclared income from his "security guard job ". Lots of blame/trouble to go around, I think.

This was the previous Coffee City Police Chief, when he resigned in 2019. Coffee City police chief announces resignation It appears that things have only gotten worse since then. JimB.
 
jimintoronto said:
The Chief has strongly defended his hiring practices, saying he wants to give people a "second chance ". The Chief also has a few legal problems of his own, like an outstanding Florida arrest warrant from 2008 which he "forgot to mention " when he was interviewed for the job". . He is also being investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety about some seized firearms that disappeared from the Coffee City Police property vault. And the IRS is also investigating the Coffee City Chief about undeclared income from his "security guard job ". Lots of blame/trouble to go around, I think.

This was the previous Coffee City Police Chief, when he resigned in 2019. Coffee City police chief announces resignation It appears that things have only gotten worse since then. JimB.
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Yeah...... see, as a society we really should allow second chances. But perhaps not in jobs of authority, where trust and honesty is paramount. Still, what would I know? They either have no crime there now, or they have a LOT of crime that needs dealing with.
 
Oh my, and they say there are only a few bad apples. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: Bull cr*p!

"5,000 traffic citations, which resulted in over a million dollars" Bet the extra taxation by criminals with a badge & a gun makes the residents feel very safe. :(
 
VaughanJB said:
Yeah...... see, as a society we really should allow second chances. But perhaps not in jobs of authority, where trust and honesty is paramount. Still, what would I know? They either have no crime there now, or they have a LOT of crime that needs dealing with.
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I will point out that the total population of Coffee City Texas is only 249 people, according to the US Census information website. So on a percentage basis , with 50 Police officers , one out of every 5 residents in that town is a Police Officer. Does that seem a bit odd to you ? To me it smells like corruption on a large scale.

Where I live, Police are prohibited from acting as security guards, they cannot own or work in a bar, they cannot own or operate a towing company or a car recovery company. They cannot act as debt collectors, or property managers because of the obvious conflict of interest . JimB.
 
Isn't there some local branch of the government that citizens can vote in or out that is in charge of the police department?
 
Jackie23 said:
Well, if you do some research you could write a book on the corrupt government actions, state and local in Texas.
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Yep! Law enforcement again with the AG impeachment trial beginning Tuesday and also an ongoing federal trial in Houston. Corruption by the top state cop. "Fish rots from the head."
 
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I'm not sure if it's changed, but here in Pennsylvania, local police departments are funded by automobile violation fines, like speeding. You'd be driving along at the posted speed of 45, then for about 300 feet, the speed limit was only 25. The 25 mph sign just happened to have a big bush infront of it. And there just happened to be cop sitting there. Those cops were ensuring that "speeders" were prosecuted, and they had a paycheck on Friday. I'm not sure the PA cops didn't invent speed traps. :unsure:
 
JustDave said:
Isn't there some local branch of the government that citizens can vote in or out that is in charge of the police department?
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I am not an expert on United States law, but in this case I would suggest that the State Government of Texas would be the ones to investigate local municipal corruption cases, through the State Attorney General's office. JimB.
 
jimintoronto said:
I will point out that the total population of Coffee City Texas is only 249 people, according to the US Census information website. So on a percentage basis , with 50 Police officers , one out of every 5 residents in that town is a Police Officer. Does that seem a bit odd to you ? To me it smells like corruption on a large scale.

Where I live, Police are prohibited from acting as security guards, they cannot own or work in a bar, they cannot own or operate a towing company or a car recovery company. They cannot act as debt collectors, or property managers because of the obvious conflict of interest . JimB.
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Yes, of course. I don't know if it's corruption or something else, though I acknowledge it's not easy to explain. In other parts of the US there aren't enough cops....
 
I have to wonder why it has taken so long to bring this to the front? I have to believe there is still more to the story than is being reported. This story needs to be followed. Something isn’t kosher here.
 
Shakespeare said it right when he wrote, "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark" but in this case the rotten smell is definitely coming from this Coffee place in Texas.

They say, "Don't Mess With Texas" but what do you do when parts of Texas give you that rotten stinking smell?
 

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jimintoronto said:
Coffee City is located in east Texas and it has a po[pulation of only 249 people and it has become infamous for the high number of Police who are employed by the town, 37 Reserve officers and 13 full time officers including the Chief. Last year the Coffee City Police department wrote over 5,000 traffic citations, which resulted in over a million dollars of traffic fine revenue for this tiny little town.

An investigation by a Houston TV station revealed that about half of the officers now employed by the Coffee City Police were previously fired, demoted, or let go by their previous Police department for being drunk on duty, falsifying documents, illegal use of force, assaults on hand cuffed prisoners, or similar offences.

The chief of the Coffee City police department was found to be working in his uniform at an apartment building located over 200 MILES from his city. He and several of his Coffee City officers were interviewed by the deputy sheriffs at that location and the body camera footage was released to the media. They were acting as "security guards " and being paid by the owners of the apartment complex.

link. Caught on camera: Small-town police chief goes on tirade

This video is from 4 days ago. What a disgrace. JimB.
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Are there that much crimes to require so many? Sorry just find this funny!
 
jimintoronto said:
I am not an expert on United States law, but in this case I would suggest that the State Government of Texas would be the ones to investigate local municipal corruption cases, through the State Attorney General's office. JimB.
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........uh..unless the State Attorney is corrupt...read above, Nosey Bee's post.
 
The reserve officers are no doubt volunteers, so there is no payroll problem. This allows them to work at other jobs with police authority for better pay than a civilian job. The ticket revenue is another matter.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I'm not sure if it's changed, but here in Pennsylvania, local police departments are funded by automobile violation fines, like speeding.
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That is an additional revenue source, not the only funding as maybe in the thread example, can not be for all of PA.
 
ohioboy said:
The reserve officers are no doubt volunteers, so there is no payroll problem. This allows them to work at other jobs with police authority for better pay than a civilian job. The ticket revenue is another matter.
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All of the so called "Reserve officers " were previously full time sworn Police officers in other Texas departments, who were fired for a wide range of criminal offences. What a co-incidence that so many ended up in ONE small Texas town with only 259 residents ?? Coffee City has 38 Reserve Police officers at this time and 12 full timers. For a total of 50 Police officers.

Somebody mentioned the traffic citations as a source of income for this small town that has one motel, 2 liquor stores, a dollar store and a pizza joint as it's business district. Here is a map of the area. Link. Coffee City texas map - Google Search

According to public sources, the Coffee City Police issued over 5500 traffic citations in the last year for which there are records. On a day to day basis, that works out to an average of 15 tickets a day times 365 days. The total of the fines levied is estimated to be over a million dollars a year for the little place.

Here is a link that illustrates the population, income, property values, racial percentages, and education levels of the population. This website shows an even smaller population of around 210 people living in Coffee City, Texas. Link.https://datausa.io/profile/geo/coffee-city-tx/
 
I tried to connect to the Coffee City Police department's website this morning ( September the 4th ) and it was "not available ". The same for it's Facebook page. Same for previously available photos of their officers, and patrol vehicles. Isn't that odd ? Could things be coming unglued in Coffee City ? I wonder. JimB.
 

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