The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement has ordered the Trinidad Police Department to close after inspectors concluded the small East Texas agency failed to meet minimum state standards and could not show that it provided a public benefit to the community. The department’s authority to appoint or keep licensed peace officers ends Friday, September 18, 2026. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office will handle law enforcement in the city.
Trinidad, a Henderson County town of fewer than 900 residents about 75 miles southeast of Dallas, employed five full time officers and several part time officers. Mayor Dennis Haws said the state’s decision was not a shock. He said he was surprised, however, by how many problems inspectors documented. City Council member Steven Stearman called the shutdown “failed accountability” and said the problems did not develop overnight.
TCOLE investigators inspected the department on August 5. In a letter to Haws dated September 9, the commission wrote that the department “failed to meet minimum standards” and “was unable to provide evidence that the agency provides public benefit to the community.” Inspectors reported that officers lacked sufficient bullet resistant vests and that the department did not have an adequate evidence room or storage facility.
They also found that required policies were missing, including rules on use of force, vehicle pursuits, professional conduct, and active shooter response. One local report said 18 required policies were absent. Other accounts said nearly two dozen were missing. The shutdown does not erase the city’s remaining duties.
Trinidad must still preserve personnel records, report 2026 motor vehicle stop data, and finish any unresolved misconduct investigations involving officers who leave the agency. The state’s action followed months of public controversy that began with complaints about the city’s drinking water and the May arrest of Jennifer Combs. Combs, a Kerens resident who runs a Facebook page called Southern Belle Watch, posted in April that her page had received reports that some residents had been hospitalized because of bacteria in Trinidad’s water.
The post called the situation a serious public health concern and asked people whose water looked discolored, contained sediment, had a strong odor, or who believed they had related health issues to send information so findings could be reported to the state. Trinidad police treated the post as a crime. On April 6, the department posted that Combs had circulated “false information that creates fear, panic, or unnecessary emergency response within a community.”
On May 8, officers arrested her on a state jail felony charge of false alarm or report under Texas Penal Code section 42.06. That statute becomes a felony when a false emergency report involves a public water supply. Combs was booked into the Navarro County jail and held about 23 hours. She has said she never filed a police report and was gathering resident complaints for state regulators.
Police Chief Charles Gregory later called the case “cut and dry” and said claims of hospitalizations were “simply false.” Those hospitalizations have not been independently confirmed as established fact. What is established is that residents had already been posting photos of brown, sediment filled tap water, that the city issued a boil water notice on April 21 and lifted it on April 23, and that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality later documented real problems in the system.
A July TCEQ report cited aging iron mains, design failures, chlorine and iron readings that fell below required levels, high color readings, and other compliance issues. The city was given a deadline to submit a corrective plan. A Henderson County grand jury declined to indict Combs in late May, ending the felony case. She then filed a federal lawsuit alleging the arrest was political retaliation.
That lawsuit remains an allegation, not a court finding. In June, 392nd Judicial District Judge R. Scott McKee, who had approved a related warrant, wrote Chief Gregory that officers Sgt. Robert McCumsey and Investigator Cameron Beckham had not presented all material information.
McKee said they left out citizen complaints, water quality concerns, and context that explained Combs’s statements. He ordered those officers to appear in person for any future warrant applications. The next day after Combs’s arrest, police arrested Winston Noles on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge after he protested outside City Hall with a sign criticizing police. That charge was later dismissed.
Municipal Judge Shellena Bivens, who dismissed the case, was later fired by the city council. Gregory resigned, with a last day of June 19. City Hall staff later resigned as well. The Texas Rangers opened an investigation into city and police conduct tied to the water dispute and related arrests.
The scope of that inquiry has not been fully detailed in public reports. In early August, the Henderson County District Attorney’s Office and County Attorney’s Office told Trinidad they would no longer accept cases investigated or filed solely by the city police department. Pending files would be reviewed case by case. Sheriff’s deputies would respond to crimes inside the city.
Interim Chief Cameron Beckham, who had taken part in the Combs warrant process, said he was astonished and blamed long standing poor practices, saying the problems went back years. TCOLE did not state that the Combs arrest, by itself, caused the shutdown. The inspection record described missing equipment, missing policies, and a failure to prove public benefit. The water arrests brought statewide attention and helped trigger the audit that produced those findings.
As of this week, Trinidad no longer has its own licensed police force. The sheriff’s office is providing coverage while city leaders consider a longer term arrangement, including the possible assignment of a designated deputy.
