Texas Police Department Shuts Down After State Finds It Provides 'No Public Benefit' to the Community

The Trinidad Police Department was ordered to shut down after Texas regulators found it failed minimum standards and could not demonstrate a ‘public benefit’ to residents (Credit: Michael Förtsch via Unsplash)

A Texas police force that jailed a woman over a Facebook post about the town's water has been ordered to disband, four months after the arrest that brought it to national attention.

The Trinidad Police Department, which serves a Henderson County city of about 860 people some 70 miles southeast of Dallas, was ordered to stop operating after the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement found it failed to meet minimum standards. The Henderson County Sheriff's Office will take over law enforcement duties in the city.