September 23rd 2023.
Residents of Coffee City, Texas were ecstatic after their city council voted to terminate the local police force and fire the police chief, JohnJay Portillo, in response to an investigative report that revealed an alarming statistic: one police officer for every five residents.
Coffee City had employed 50 officers, who issued over 5,000 citations, according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Even more concerning, personnel files uncovered by KHOU 13 showed that the officers hired tended to come from other places after they had been fired for misconduct. Examples of such misconduct included posting a Facebook message to a citizen saying “You should kill yourself, do the world a favor,” and smashing a window to enter the officer’s girlfriend’s home without consent.
Mayor Jeff Blackstone spoke with KHOU about the decision, saying “There were things that we weren’t aware of and that really just opened our eyes, you know, there’s major changes that have got to be made and made quickly. We just felt it was best to basically terminate the program, that way we’re able to go out and find a new chief, let him do the proper evaluations and determine if he wants to re-hire anybody or start from scratch.”
The council refused to accept Portillo’s resignation letter and instead fired him. This was due to his failure to mention a DUI arrest he had in Florida, as well as the fact that he had created a controversial warrant division which allowed full-time officers to not live in Coffee City.
The disbanding of the police department has been met with relief from citizens, such as Roseanna Billings, who said “Ever since we moved here, it was every day a cop pulling in for one reason or another.”
Calls will now be handled by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office until a new chief is appointed. This new chief will then decide whether to start from scratch or rehire some of the existing officers.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t helped those who had already been issued tickets and are now petitioning to have them dismissed. Kolby Horton, who owes $11,000 in tickets, told KETK “I feel like I wouldn’t have won that battle because its me against a whole police department, and they’re more than likely going to believe a whole police department before they believe me.”
The ethics of having a fired officer testify in court regarding the legal validity of tickets have also been called into question. Steve Prather voiced his concerns, saying “How can they [have] a policeman being a witness that they’ve terminated or suspended or whatever you call it, what quality of a witness would that be?”
The citizens of Coffee City, Texas have certainly been through a tumultuous few weeks. The city council is now tasked with finding a new police chief who will restore order and integrity to the force. Until then, the residents of Coffee City will continue to wait in anticipation for a new police force that will make them proud.
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