What really needs to happen is AMERICA needs a National Registry for Bad Officers fired for dishonourable service. So they can never apply at another Agency to continue their abuse. Time to hold these thugs with badges ACCOUNTABLE.
I agree 100%. Law enforcement is one of the three top careers that domestic abusers go into. That means there are too many who are there for the power of it. We need to have a registry to keep track of them all.
Thank you. This was my question as well. Maybe the money they were bringing in harassing the citizens outweighed the need to investigate. The mayor & council needs to be investigated as well.
How could Mayor Blackstone act like he's not aware of the numerous police cars and officers in his town? The people who live there certainly were aware. I believe that the mayor and others were in on this money-making traffic ticket racket. My parents lived in a small town of 2,500. They have two police officers. For over 50 years, just two officers were needed. I agree with the commenters here about that this is what journalism should be.
Exactly. The killing of American journalism of the mid 2000s and on has had far reaching impacts and one of them is accountability of public officials. The killing of American journalism was a watershed moment in history. It arose from corporations buying newspapers, news stations, and such. They targeted and dismantled investigative journalism and any other apparatus that was holding them accountable.
@@pamsing3012Someone slipped up? Like the Mayor of Coffee City who hired this guy & defended him for years? $1 million in city tax revenues is enough to look the other way!
I mean, that sounds fe'd up but until they are arrested themselves they still have to do their job right? So like if they have an Active warrant are they not suppose to chase down the guy that just robbed you if you ask them for assistance and it happens to be a a-hole cop? Many bad cops actually do parts of their job, they're just bad and we don't know until they're exposed, then there are a-hole cops whom are just all around bad and don't do their job at all. Your parents or guardians were hypocrites at times raising you, did you say "uh uh guys, you guys lied before, no punishment for me alright, better luck next incident".
It doesn't take much. The cops are a criminal gang that use the same tricks everywhere. If you can think more than 1 to 2 steps ahead, and you have the truth, you can easily expose them as the sadistic thugs they are.
@@davidadausuel4537It gets way worse, they need to investigate the Maui Police Chief and his officers who blocked people trying to flee the Lahaina fire!! investigate the Maui Police Chief and his officers who blocked people trying to flee the Lahaina fire!!
Over a million dollars in traffic fines in one year, in a town that small. Yeah, they knew something was going on. Right now, they are trying to cover their own butts. I agree, remove them to.
Money printer goes Brrrrrr. A million dollars a year. It was a "printing press" PD. The town absolutely knew it was happening. The money made questions stop. It's frightening to think what could've happened. They could've literally taken that entire town hostage if they felt the need. khou just saved 250 people in all likelihood.
Is no one going to talk about the elephant in the room? This whole setup was to make a ton of money for the city and the mayor is neck deep in it. They were racking in over a million $$$ in traffic fines to mostly out of town people passing through, by issuing speed trap tickets and then hounding them for payment like lone sharks. This whole city needs to be investigated.
I figured traffic fines were the cash cow that motivated this arrangement. Probably most of the town's budget came from that source so like you say how could the mayor be unaware. Amazing it didn't occur to this reporter to question how this small town could afford to pay so many cops.
Over 1million however since coffee city is a transit through place alot are from out of town or even state. Which is why most of the 50 cops are"performance driven" that don't live in that city and work remotely a few days a week part-time and are paid for each one they close out and collect on. Pretty shitty and completely corrupt. I don't think the city is bringing in that full amount but you would be pretty hands off to not notice what's happening from a books/budget perspective.
What needs investigating is why a village of 250 people NEEDS a mayor or a city (???) council. How can the village afford to pay for all that hot air ?. I can envisage a time in the future when the village has become a ghost town, yet still has a mayor, and a swarm of law upholders chasing non corporial residents for traffic violations.
No investigation necessary. Mayors & city council members are elected. Residents who don’t like the way their town is run can simply elect the next non-incumbent in every one of these positions. Get the right people in there, run it your way, then blame yourself if it fails to improve. Problem solved without an investigation.
How cute that you want to insist politics aren’t a factor when the city council used the cops to extort their electorate. Sure bud. Nothing political about that.
Local journalism isn’t a huge money maker but it deserves to be propped up when you get results like these. We can never let it die. Great investigation.
Great video, I am sure this is happening in many other places. 20 years as a police office, and I am saddened that someone could do this to a career I cherish. Very sad.
Don’t stop with the police chief. The Mayor and city council members knew what was going on and should be investigated for where all that money was going.
There are so many of these corrupt PDs in this country. It's a well-known fact that cops get fired and just go to another county or state and get rehired. Good ol' boys network.
True, but the problem is local news (television, radio, and newspapers) are underfunded or owned by political leaning entities. Sinclair Broadcasting is a right wing company that owns probably the most. They broadcast shows by Ted Cruz, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and others. We saw the numbers of bad officers from January 6 and hear bad stories all of the time. Their union needs to go as well as qualified immunity. That's what allows bad cops to relocate and continue bad behavior. Thank God for RIng cameras and cell phones, but we've all seen crimes by cops and politicians still go unpunished. Bad cops must be locked up and banned period!
Local tend to be less bias and foolish than National or main stream big ones because they aren't elitist-like reporters or more directly in contact with the top of the news folk whom have narratives. Local news sometimes go rouge too lol we have the stories of news reporters revealing stuff locally on the day they quit and air it. If we're being honest, RU-vidrs are filling the gap of what Journalist use to be to society. Not random RU-vidrs, but dedicated ones that research and tell us the news unfiltered regardless of politics.
@@drjonesey5Not true. Local media is biased and easily influenced by their need to do their jobs, so they throw softball questions during interviews. An example is sports journalism. Local reporters won't ask tough questions to athletes and coaches because they know if the coach becomes annoyed, they won't grant an interview in the future. The reporter won't have a job anymore. OTOH, national reporters aren't influenced by this.
Jeremy Rogalski is one of the best interigator/interviewers I've ever seen. He never batted an eyelid interviewing that cop. And it is obvious by the wash-up, of this sordid business, that he is an indefatigable worker. Well done, JR!
I remember going through the process of becoming a police officer for LAPD. I was in the final stages of making it to the academy. All I needed to complete was a psychological evaluation. To my surprise, I failed. Interestingly, the detective who was assigned to do my background investigation as a candidate, once said to me: "You look like someone I would feel confident and safe partnering with today. Unfortunately, there are candidates that I wouldn't say the same for, but they will make it through somehow. A lot of the candidates that I believe have good potential to be great officers will not get the opportunity to." I suspect, one of the issues in the police hiring process is the psychological evaluation. Videos like these, support my suspicions.
They should investigate Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. Oh wait. A free press is certainly not free, it is own by oligarchs. A truly free press would be a mix that includes a REAL public press accountable to voting citizens directly, and any private press a rich person wants to buy for parasitism off of consumer-types.
@@paalexsamaklyne1040you said god.. Lol. Santa Claus is great too then!? Smh... How can an adult be so dumb to believe in something sooo impossible n makes zero sense!? Victims...
Mayor ought to resign too. Willful ignorance or complete incompetence ...which one is it? As the Mayor you ought to know what is going on with your own PD. I suspect that the Mayor (and city council) did know and let this go because of how lucrative the department was for their city budget.
Were all the traffic violations fabricated? If they were all valid, then it looks like good ol' Texans ain't so big on law and order. (We already know they're not)
I feel the mayor knows a lot more than he is leading to believe. He felt the heat and is now of the offense to not get tangled in the evil web!! But coffee county is alone. Many police dept behave this same way. They are the largest gang in the country.
Iy is not easy to get into the blue gang. But once you are in , you are guaranteed a job for life! Unless you refuse to get vaccinated for Covid; that is.
This reporter should be nominated for a journalism award. Actual journalism that resulted in actual civic change?? That is unheard of these days. Bravo!!
All police are just state-sanctioned gangs. Most of them are corrupt, and the same thing that happened here needs to happen all over this country. Abolition Reform is required. Disband them and then recreate a new law enforcement from scratch. The Germans didn’t reform the Gestapo after WWII, they abolished and replaced it.
Imagine being the Mayor of a town with 50 police officers and not "fully understanding" where all the money you were paying them was going.... the mayor needs to go along with that whole council
The "mayor" of 250 people. LOL. He is probably getting a cut of the traffic tickets for his pay. People in charge of HOAs have more responsibility and more people to answer to. 250 people don't have the tax base to support 50 cops and a mayor and a city council. Their money is made by traffic violations. And half of the "cops" don't get paid at all. Paid from collecting outstanding tickets with a commision and moonlighting as security. This chief will make a good mob member. He would be considered a good "earner" with this ingenious racket. Amazing what you can do if you just get a few people together and incorporate yourself as a "town" in America. Legalize extortion under the guise of "policing". I wonder why the mob haven't thought of this.
The guy seemed to have innovative ways of making money for the town. They might have even been good, considering the investigative reporting didn't seem to find cases of actual misconduct by the Coffee City police . . . yet.
Amazing Job! God bless all the hard work you do for our country. When everyone is scared of Law Enforcement, you stood up and practice justice against those that suppress us. God Bless your organization.
Federal law should mandate that any cop who has criminal charges pending their certification is suspended. Found guilty their certification is the first to go.
I’m not saying it’s not true, but most other police departments aren’t fully staffed and haven’t been for a long time. This is gross. This is wrong. Thanks for covering it.
@@BxCortez2050the million dollars in ticket spread between the 50 cops is only 20k per. There salary has to be way more than that. So it has to be a loss.
-----They were loving all that sweet ticket money. Now investigate the court that enforced the tickets and the city council (past and present) that created this mess in the first place.
Congratulations to Mr. Rogowski, KHOU-11, investigative reporting! You embody the best traditions and ideals of the Constitutional Right for a Free Press that informs We the People and holds government accountable.
They hired a Florida fugitive. What ever happened to background checks? We civilians undergo them regularly before a hire. Excellent journalism KHOU! The residents of Coffee City can live a little easier now.
Still the fact he was arrested in FL should still show up when they do a background check. It sound like someone really dropped the ball and half their brains, because that arrest still should have showed up. He probably talked himself out it with his everyone deserve a second chance bs as his patrol officer arrested people because they cannot passed that road side sobriety test. What cops do not tell you the longer they have you do that eye thing, you eye tire and then start to spasm and twitch, which means you now failed. Have a weak leg that shake, you fail. You have knee surgery, have poor balance you fail. Basically 70% of sober people cannot pass the test, which is hugely subjective. You have blood shot eyes mean you must of used pot. In a state that pot is illegal and you used 7 days ago and a trace shows up you go to jail even though it maybe legal where you took week before. However the ability to effect your driving has long passed.. Pot stays in the fats cell for a real long time and take much longer to clear for a urine test then a blood test. Basically it take nothing for a cop to arrested you for a DUI. I saw one man who blew 0.0 and did a lot better then I ever would on a roadside test and the cop arrested him anyway. Meanwhile if you are asked to do one road side sobriety test have every medical problem like had concussion, hip surgery, knee issue, balance problem, tell them every problem you ever had. Also them because of ortho and other medical problem have, you want a test for someone who is disabled. This is a much easier test because it is more of counting backwards and touching your thumb with you finger thing. Also if they do that eye test for 30 second say out loud while you cops does this " you know when the eyes tire by being in this stress position like this test does it actually cause spasm movement in the eyes" . Now you just put tons of doubt in the whole process.
Thank you to the one who gave the tip and to the investigator!!!!!! I guess citizens suffered for years with all those criminals wearing those uniforms!!!!!!!
The mayor and city council need to be investigated, as well. And a police department investigating itself - even with a new police chief - is just asking for more corruption. The county rep, Lance Gooden, is suspect, as well.
Yup I've seen it myself. A town cop got kicked off the force because of his terrible behaviour and within days he was hired by the county police department...
The mayor and city council needs to be investigated too. The PD was bringing in $1M+ in ticket revenue. There’s no way the mayor and counsel didn’t know what was going on. And now that the PD was shut down, the mayor is claiming there’s no need to investigate further.
I agree with you. Especially when someone in the force filed a complaint with the council about him and they told them to shut up pretty much. They all need to be stood down since they were profiting from that.
I find it hard to believe the mayor and city counsel had no idea they had a 50 person police force and what was going on in the department. It's a real small town, in a small town EVERYONE knows everything going on. I have lived in tiny towns my entire life and it's always the case.
I wonder if the Mayor is former Law enforcement Officer with a "disabled" L.E.O. retirement paycheck & collecting Social security disability benefits also....
@@shawnr771It's pretty funny that you think the city council wasn't getting a cut. They chose the police chief and were aware of all of his hirings, as well as their activity. This was a top-down case of corruption. The mayor and the city council are letting the chief take the fall, hoping that nobody uncovers their part in all of this.
I'm looking forward to a part 2 of this! Great work! I'm interested in hearing about charges for this ex-PC!!! No way he can do this and not have some charges! Great work, Jeremy!!! 👏🏻⚖️👏🏻
the "chief" doesn't have an original thought in his head. What needs to be investigated is who hired him. It took a news station to perform a background check on a criminal police chief that's had a warrant for almost a decade. When I applied for a nursing license as a student I was required to have an FBI background check before a license was ever issued to me, but this man in charge of public trust doesn't even get the minimum background check.
who knows it could be something inherited from the small group of anglo (and anglo indentured servants) petty criminals, carpet baggers, gamblers, and hustlers that infiltrated the land (when still legally owned by Mexico, earlier by Spain for 20 generations) and that through back stabbing, infiltrating, troublemaking behind the border lines, stealing corrientes, trespassing and squatting, etc achieved the goal of separating Tejas from its rightful owners (those that civilized, populated, fought and opened the land to Christianity and western civilization while mixing with its natives).
@benedictcumberbatch4275 do you think this doesn't happen everywhere? Because it's a problem in every state, with every police department. They don't police their own anywhere.
The mayor needs to be suspended, & investigated, for defending that chief in that email, & also should be looked into, along with the city council, for hiring that chief without doing their due diligence, & also for allowing all those hires without doing their due diligence! They knew there were far too many officers for that small town & did & said nothing!
I’ve lived in Tyler for 24 years and I grew up in Houston. I couldn’t be more proud of my hometown tv investigators for bringing this to light. Thank you.
@@johnjames4567 Thank you. I am a retired print journalist (originally from Houston). As I watched this fine piece of enterprise journalism, I wondered who really did the legwork, the real reporting. TV stations don't normally have the staff, the skills or the inclination to do this.
I grew up in a town with a population of just about a thousand people. We had one sheriff and one deputy. That was more than enough to (keep the peace) the official title of police officers. There were no requirements for them to make any quotas or revenue for the township. Just keep the peace!
It did seem a bit hypocritical that he hired people to grab and/or fine people for FTAs, yet he was one. "Welcome to Florida! Come on vacation. Leave on probation!"
Absolute textbook investigative journalism. Thank you for your service Jeremy, you not only saved unnecessary stress from the victims but also potentially saved lives.
I am thankful for the bad people of all professions to be removed. There are good and bad in all needed professions. I do wish the good police would be more proactive in the community against the scourge that is gangs. Houston is being over run with violent thugs.
True, this is how you get fabricated stories, crime scene tampering, drugs planted on suspects etc. with an end result of wrongful conviction and the person spending over 20yrs. in prison. Many cases need to be looked at with fresh eyes. Why should an innocent person languish in jail b/c of corrupt cops? I sure wouldn't want to. Plus it sounds like the u were handing out tickets and fines like tickets tacs😆
I think they're more dangerous. They can operate 'under color of authority', at least bad guys are aware of being busted by the cops. Who are cops afraid of?
@@loridean177It gets way worse, they need to investigate the Maui Police Chief and his officers who blocked people trying to flee the Lahaina fire!! investigate the Maui Police Chief and his officers who blocked people trying to flee the Lahaina fire!!
Qualified immunity only works if the officers did not violate policy or clearly established law. If he/ she is outside that then there’s no qualified immunity. Qualified immunity exists to protect the people doing the right thing from frivolous action. It does not protect people doing the wrong thing. And a judge has to exam the case to determine if it applies or not.
I applaud your investigation skills and is amazing what you have uncovered and all this I am so happy to feel that there are people who actually support proper policing and I think you as a citizen of United States that you got to the bottom of this judiciary things are in place
He didn't. They made a million dollars in traffic tickets and had 50 cops in a town of 250. The mayor and the city council knew what was going on. They might not have set it up, but they benefitted from it and kept their mouths closed when it seemed fishy.
TO be fair, there is a Houston link here, and an interdepartmental squabble. Why should Houston help out these shitbird pigs, and the shitbird pigs ran their mouths a little too much. I'm fairly certain the 'tips' came from the district of the slighted Constable, who is himself a shitbird pig.
This investigation deserves an award, to go viral and should be the absolute standard in journalism. Bravo for serving the people of America, small towns to big towns. This police chief and mayor should be charged and be in jail if not prison.
That’s amazing . The mayor knows the town has 250 people and he knew there were 50 police officers. He definitely knew what was going on, but liked all the money coming in.
The Mayor obviously deserves a lot of the blame. Burying your head in the sand is just asking for trouble with PD and any agency. 50 officers for 250 people, an illegal warrant system, anybody with intelligence should know JJ portillo is making money hand over fist.
Not only the mayor but council too. All town officials knew. I bet the mayor and council weren’t getting traffic tickets. They preyed on residents and people passing through town. Reminds me of DOJ report on Ferguson after Michael Brown killing. Town used Ferguson residents as an atm. Traffic fines. Court fees. Penalties. Everyone given same time to be at court each day. Court would lock door at start of hearing. That’s it for the day. If you came 5 minutes late you were a no show. More fines. They counted on people being late. It was an opportunity to levy more fines and fees.
@@cgpcgp3239 that’s what I was thinking and now they are all innocent since it comes out. How corrupt they are. We had a spot in the road with one gas station, a school to the 8th grade and a very popular restaurant. People stopped going to the restaurant when they had 3 full time and 19 reserve officers giving out tickets like free desserts.
I have felonies from when i was basically a kid 18 through 25 or so and now i can never own a firearm. These guys detroy lives and when they get fired they just go to another department. Just doesnt make much sense to me.
Did you miss the part where they were writing over a million dollars in tickets in just one year? That's not even including tax money and other streams of revenue that they undoubtedly have. Hell, if the city is already this corrupt, the odds that they have unethical and even illegal streams of revenue coming in are pretty high. It's disturbing and despicable, to say the least! Not to mention, it's also one of the reasons many of those officers were moonlighting by doing other odd jobs outside of their main law enforcement duties. They weren't all full-time law enforcement officers. Welcome to the U.S.A., though, right? 🇺🇲
@@gNOme_5; The thing with the tickets is what I like to call a self-perpetuating money-making scheme. You see that a lot with toll roads and border crossings. They keep taking money, but they never maintain the infrastructure.
