The Texas police department that arrested a mother for criticizing the town’s dirty drinking water on social media has been ordered to disband after the state ruled that it provided no “benefit to the community.”
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement sent Trinidad Mayor Dennis Haws a letter on Sept. 9 revoking the city’s license to operate its own police department — determining the department had “failed to meet minimum standards” as a law enforcement entity, KETK reported.
The action followed an Aug. 5 investigation in which the department was found “unable to provide evidence that the agency provides public benefit to the community” and lacked 18 required policies, including ones on use of force, vehicle pursuit, professional conduct and active shooters, the commission said.
The investigation into the department was triggered after Jennifer Combs was arrested for felony false alarm or report and tossed in jail for a night in May following a Facebook post alleging that bacteria in Trinidad’s water pipes had hospitalized residents.
Police defended the arrest, claiming Combs’ post had created “fear, panic, or unnecessary emergency response within a community” — despite the city itself posting a notice urging residents to boil their water to “avoid harmful bacteria” on April 21, weeks before her arrest.
Despite the mounting contradictions, Trinidad Police Chief Charles Gregory doubled down — calling the case against Combs “cut and dry.”
Police also arrested a supporter of Combs, citizen journalist Winston Noles, for misdemeanor disorderly conduct after he displayed a “f–k bad cops” sign outside city hall, FOX 4 reported.
Combs’ arrest quickly drew national attention, prompting Gregory to drop the felony charge against her and the state to launch its investigation into the department.
The charge against Noles was also dropped.
Gregory resigned on June 19 — despite telling a Trinidad City Council meeting he had “nothing to hide” regarding the arrests of Combs and Noles, Fox 4 reported.
After his resignation, the judge who approved Combs’ search warrant wrote a scathing letter questioning “the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of information” two Trinidad officers had presented to him and Gregory’s leadership.
The Henderson County District Attorney’s Office announced in August it would stop taking cases from the department following the state’s investigation.
Separately, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found issues with Trinidad’s water supply — the very concern Combs had raised — which city officials have since promised to address.
Following the news that the department would disband, Combs wrote on Facebook that “for months, citizens who questioned this department were dismissed, attacked and in my case arrested.”
“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 said. “We were never the problem. We were exposing it.”
Haws also said he was “not a shock” that the state decided to disband the department.
“There’s been a lot of neglect through the years,” Haws told FOX 4 News. “We are moving in a positive direction. We’ve got to get past all of this.”
The Trinidad Police Department — serving a municipality in Henderson County about 75 miles southeast of Dallas — has five full-time officers and several part-time officers and will officially shut its doors for good on Friday.
The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office will handle all law enforcement calls for Trinidad — a city of just over 800 people, according to the 2024 census.
