Coffee City Council makes plans for future without police department

COFFEE CITY, Texas (KLTV) - It’s been two months since the de-activation of Coffee City’s police department, where the former police chief allegedly allowed a number of officers to live in Houston while working remotely for the department.

Since the disbandment, the city is making plans for the future of the city, with or without a police department.

And one action was taken at Monday night’s City Council meeting, as city council approved to move forward with the possible selling of some of their old police vehicles.

“One thing it’s going to help us on is insurance because we’re paying quite a bit of money for our auto insurance. So that’s going to save us quite a bit. Other than that, they’re just sitting there, batteries going bad. It’s just, it’s better to go ahead and get rid of them if we’re just not going to use them.” said Mayor Jeff Blackstone.

There are currently five vehicles. After the approved motion, Blackstone said an outfitter company will put together a proposal of what it would cost the city to make repairs and how much to market the cars.

The city plans to keep one vehicle in case a police department is reinstated in the future. And just last month, the city released a survey to the community about this possible reinstatement.

“Well, it was just to kind of feel out people’s thoughts. I mean, we want to make sure that what we are doing is what the community wants, not just, you know, what we want.”

But Blackstone said only two people responded so far.

“They would love to see us have a police department. They pretty much know that based on our economic situation here, it’s just not going to be feasible in the near future. We’re going to have to bring in some new business around here to generate more tax dollars.”

Another topic of discussion at the City Council meeting was a possible neighborhood crime watch program, to get residents to stay proactive when it comes to safety as the city continues to live a life without a police department.

Mayor Blackstone said the city is hoping to bring Henderson County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse at next month’s city council meeting to get more information about starting the Neighborhood Crime Watch program.

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