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If a police department is going to be a full time department (not all are) they need five officers at a bare minimum. If the officers work 12 hour shifts, on a 2-2-3-2-2-3 schedule (on-off rotation), then 4 officers cover all hours on duty. But, it leaves no one to cover when an officer is sick, on vacation, or attending training. It also leaves a deficiency in coverage when anything happens, or on nights when you want two officers to handle fights (usually Friday and Saturday).

So, many cities use four or five full time paid officers, including the chief, plus a small group of unpaid part-time officers (what used to be called reserves). reserves work two to four times per month on average so you need more than you would first think.

Which brings up a question that has yet to be answered in the field (and TCLEOSE and the legislature have looked into this). What size city/school district should be required to have a police department at all? Right now, any incorporated city can have its own police if they want to. Should this continue or should they be required to use the sheriff's department patrol services?

Yes, this lesson really is on topic because the end question is the political control. What happened in Combine perfectly illustrates the reason towns fight for their own department (to control what it does). The Sheriff may not want to get involved in a mess like that, and he is also a politician who wants to get re-elected. I have yet to see a police department that is not political. Unfortunately, I also do not know of a solution to this problem.