Coffee City Police - East Texas

[carlson1]

If you have spent any time in East Texas then you have heard of Coffee City, Texas. It is a very small town that is Henderson County. Athen is the County Seat. For as long as I can remember all the way back to 1979-1980 it has been a speed trap.

Their population is 250 with a police department of 50 officers.

[Excaliber]

The mayor pleads ignorance, but he and the city council approve the budget for the agency. The salaries and benefits for all those officers and the costs of their vehicles, equipment, and other support has to be eye popping. The required funds may have come largely from the revenue from the 5100 annual citations written. That could be around $1.75 million.

I think there's much more here than meets the eye, and the issues likely permeate the city's leadership beyond the police department. "Aw shucks, I didn't know" is unlikely to cut it with TCOLE.

[RoyGBiv]

The former chief has to be a moron for thinking it was any kind of good idea to agree to that interview...

[puma guy]

The mayor pleads ignorance, but he and the city council approve the budget for the agency. The salaries and benefits for all those officers and the costs of their vehicles, equipment, and other support has to be eye popping. The required funds may have come largely from the revenue from the 5100 annual citations written. That could be around $1.75 million.

I think there's much more here than meets the eye, and the issues likely permeate the city's leadership beyond the police department. "Aw shucks, I didn't know" is unlikely to cut it with TCOLE.

The former chief has to be a moron for thinking it was any kind of good idea to agree to that interview..

Unless the mayor and city council had their heads where the sun don't shine denying they knew is less than plausible. Of course there' alway's the possibility they were benefiting financially under the table or otherwise. Just think about it - they wouldn't have noticed the fleet of vehicles it takes for 50 officers or the ballooned budget they approved year after year. Me thinks it stinks!

As for the chief speaking to reporters I have found that criminals are not the brightest bulb on the tree and their ego allows them to think they are clever enough to outsmart everyone.

[carlson1]

Think about this 5138 tickets annually. That equals out to about 97 tickets a day in a town that is about 2 miles square.

[Rafe]

The salaries and benefits for all those officers and the costs of their vehicles, equipment, and other support has to be eye popping. The required funds may have come largely from the revenue from the 5100 annual citations written. That could be around $1.75 million.

Back of napkin math: population of Coffee City, 249. Number of officers on force, 50. Officers per capita, 1:4.98.

Population of Dallas proper in 2021, 1.288 million. Number of officers on force for DPD to be equivalent to Coffee City, 258,812. The Dallas Police Department has just over 3,100 sworn LEOs and 600 non-sworn members.

Population of Houston proper in 2021, 2.288 million. Number of officers on force for HPD to be equivalent to Coffee City, 459,616. The Houston Police Department has approximately 5,300 sworn officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel.

Apples and oranges, admittedly, but still...

[Papa_Tiger]

The salaries and benefits for all those officers and the costs of their vehicles, equipment, and other support has to be eye popping. The required funds may have come largely from the revenue from the 5100 annual citations written. That could be around $1.75 million.

Back of napkin math: population of Coffee City, 249. Number of officers on force, 50. Officers per capita, 1:49.8.

Population of Dallas proper in 2021, 1.288 million. Number of officers on force for DPD to be equivalent to Coffee City, 25,881. The Dallas Police Department has just over 3,100 sworn LEOs and 600 non-sworn members.

Population of Houston proper in 2021, 2.288 million. Number of officers on force for HPD to be equivalent to Coffee City, 45,961. The Houston Police Department has approximately 5,300 sworn officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel.

Apples and oranges, admittedly, but still...

You are off by an order of magnitude. Should be Officers per capita, 1:4.98

[powerboatr]

so what i see is 1 police for every 4 citizens...CRIME must be non existent

i have driven through there many times, and without a ticket
now i will pay more attention

Winnsboro is getting as bad with tickets as well
they lay in wait for the LARGEST employer in the city that has over 500 per shift 24 hrs a day, at the dairy.
not to mention the endless stream of diary trucks bringing in fresh milks from dairy farms all around
they hide in the dark right at place it goes from 45 to 35 as you enter the city limits and BOOM its ticket time
shifts are at 3 am to 3p, 3 pm to 3am so no one really notices the 3am speed traps and follow on vehicle searches etc.
its getting out of hand
when i drove grand child to work every morning at 2 30 i got pulled over once at a 55 sign doing 57
no ticket, but after that i watched each morning and it was crazy at the number of cars pulled over every morning at same spot where it drops 45 to 35
and BLACK patrol suvs, with only reflective stuff on sides .
i got where i was flashing them with my high beams often as they were sort of a hazard to navigation just off the pavement

hey city has to make money somewhere right ??

[philip964]

So I assume most police officers have a family. 50 police officers 50 domestic partners or spouses, then maybe 25 children.

So one half of the employment in the town is police officers.

I’m now going to see what highways are near by.

Wow, no real highways, just a quite little touristy looking lake town.

[RoyGBiv]

Think about this 5138 tickets annually. That equals out to about 97 tickets a day in a town that is about 2 miles square.

You might want to check the battery in your calculator, Sir.....
5138 / 365 = 14.1

Maybe you meant 97 per week??

[wheelgun1958]

Almost 10 years ago the town of Stringtown OK had the PD disbanded and taken over by the OHP and county Sheriff for this very reason.

[Rafe]

You are off by an order of magnitude. Should be Officers per capita, 1:4.98

Oh howlin' coyotes! You're right! The napkin I was writing on must have had that corner torn off at exactly the wrong time. Gotta go back and fix all that....

[carlson1]

Think about this 5138 tickets annually. That equals out to about 97 tickets a day in a town that is about 2 miles square.

You might want to check the battery in your calculator, Sir.....
5138 / 365 = 14.1

Maybe you meant 97 per week??

That is what happens when you count on Apple. I did calculate weeks. Either way that is a LOT of situation for a town if 250 people.

[srothstein]

The mayor pleads ignorance, but he and the city council approve the budget for the agency. The salaries and benefits for all those officers and the costs of their vehicles, equipment, and other support has to be eye popping. The required funds may have come largely from the revenue from the 5100 annual citations written. That could be around $1.75 million.

I think there's much more here than meets the eye, and the issues likely permeate the city's leadership beyond the police department. "Aw shucks, I didn't know" is unlikely to cut it with TCOLE.

What you and many seem to be missing on this is that 50 officers is not really quite as many as you think and is no where near as expensive as you think. It is probably only two paid officers and 48 unpaid part-time officers (what we used to call reserves). In a very small town, it is the only way to get a police officer on duty all the time. The part-timers, if it is like the town I work in, each donate two eight hour shifts per month. Figure there are twenty-one shifts per week to cover, that makes about 90 per month. Forty-eight officers covering two each means 96 shifts covered, which allows for a few being sick or on training days each month.

And it is also quite possible that many of the officers never worked at all. It is common in small towns for the chief to be retired from a larger department. Quite often he will carry the commission for his friends without making them ever work as a reservist. They have to show up for training and weapons qualifications to keep their licenses active, but that is it. This practice predates LEOSA and was started as a way for the retirees to keep carrying. It is not nearly as necessary as it was, but some old traditions don't die easily.

These reserves and just carrying the commissions would make the mayor's ignorance quite believable.

[carlson1]

Steve I Don’t know if you watched the videos or not. Those officers not only do not work in Coffee City they do not live there they live mostly in Houston. They are carried as full time officers so they can work side jobs in Houston. In fact the majority of them are in a “warrant division.” What they do is call people with citations and FTA’s and collect the money on the phone. Each time they collect they keep $150.00 per citation. It is not a reserve program at all.