I’m curious how that funding worked. Even with $1,000,000 in traffic revenue, to pay 50 officers from tax revenue of 250 people, surely there was some kind of state or federal funding fraud.
In Texas in order to work government event security and do fill-in work you need to be a sworn Peace Officer in the state but in order to be a sworn officer you need to be employed by a recognized Law Enforcement Agency in the State.
So most of those Officers were only minimally present on the Duty Roster, primarily only working when another agency put out a call for Officers.
That much I know from researching it back when it was a current event. I suspect that this was primarily funded by the Officers involved paying into the scheme as they got work. As an example Officer Humpty would work an event in Dallas and the Coffee City P.D. would get paid $3,000 (pick a number) for borrowing that Officer. Coffee City would then pay Officer Humpty $2,000 (pick a number) for his work.
You could easily keep 200+ Officers busy doing events and fill-in work in Texas.
You should also know that the Coffee City, P.D. was a refuge for troubled Peace Officers, a sort of “Last Chance University” for Texas Cops. They’d get in trouble somewhere else then go to Coffee City and work there to prove that they were fine and then transfer back to a regular Police Department somewhere else.
They’d put up with the bullshit so that they could hold onto their career in Law Enforcement.
It’s a town of around 3000 people. They may have nearly abolished it just by arresting those five guys.
https://www.businessinsider.com/coffee-city-texas-speed-trap-shuts-down-entire-police-force-2023-9
One Texas town of 250 people had a police force of fifty sworn officers.
I’m curious how that funding worked. Even with $1,000,000 in traffic revenue, to pay 50 officers from tax revenue of 250 people, surely there was some kind of state or federal funding fraud.
In Texas in order to work government event security and do fill-in work you need to be a sworn Peace Officer in the state but in order to be a sworn officer you need to be employed by a recognized Law Enforcement Agency in the State.
So most of those Officers were only minimally present on the Duty Roster, primarily only working when another agency put out a call for Officers.
That much I know from researching it back when it was a current event. I suspect that this was primarily funded by the Officers involved paying into the scheme as they got work. As an example Officer Humpty would work an event in Dallas and the Coffee City P.D. would get paid $3,000 (pick a number) for borrowing that Officer. Coffee City would then pay Officer Humpty $2,000 (pick a number) for his work.
You could easily keep 200+ Officers busy doing events and fill-in work in Texas.
You should also know that the Coffee City, P.D. was a refuge for troubled Peace Officers, a sort of “Last Chance University” for Texas Cops. They’d get in trouble somewhere else then go to Coffee City and work there to prove that they were fine and then transfer back to a regular Police Department somewhere else.
They’d put up with the bullshit so that they could hold onto their career in Law Enforcement.
bringing new meaning to police state