COFFEE CITY, Texas — As the Coffee City police chief serves his 30-day suspension following an investigation into his conduct, the question remains: who will be protecting the citizens of the small town during this time?
Henderson County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse explained how they plan to assist during this time.
"I have talked to the mayor a couple of times within the last week. And I did watch the coverage that the Houston television station did. We've been working hand in hand with the mayor and have assured him that we will assist them in any way that we can," Hillhouse said.
An investigation conducted by our sister station in Houston, KHOU11, reveals details about Coffee City Police Chief JohnJay Portillo and the 50 officers on his police force. Since that investigation, a warrant program created by the chief was dismantled and the chief was suspended with pay by the city council.
In a previous interview with CBS19, Coffee City Mayor Jeff Blackstone said he's unsure of how many police officers are currently on staff serving the small town.
"We've actually put in a request to get an updated roster. We've not been given that information," Blackstone said.
To make sure the town is covered, Blackstone is working with Hillhouse to make sure calls are answered during this investigation period.
"We will make sure their city is covered. And, you know, if we need to answer the calls that come in, in the city of Coffee City, we will do that," Hillhouse said.
Hillhouse said helping police departments in his county isn't uncommon. He said most police departments are understaffed and they have a hard time filling positions.
"There's basically a shortage of police officers, they're hard to find," Hillhouse said. "I'm short in my patrol division and other departments are short, too. So I mean, they're not the only city that we're having to cover."
The sheriff said what is uncommon, though, is the number of staff Coffee City Police had on its roster.
"We dispatch for Coffee City, so I knew that they had a lot of officers on the roster. And I also knew that most of the officers were not from Henderson County. That's really nothing that the sheriff's office looks into that's up to the actual police department," Hillhouse said. "I knew that there was a large number of officers down there helping cover the city, but I didn't have any specifics on exactly what was going on until the news article really came out."
Hillhouse is referring to the investigation conducted by KHOU11. The investigation revealed Portillo routinely hired officers who were involved in prior misconduct, including Portillo himself who was previously charged with a DWI.
That report raised questions among citizens and council members and now people are upset at the leadership in the town.
"They've received a lot of threatening phone calls and left voicemails there to the city officials, not the police department, but with the other city officials there," Hillhouse said. "We started a harassment investigation for Coffee City yesterday."
As questions linger, the city council is expected to host a public meeting Monday night at 6 p.m.
It will be at Coffee City City Hall located at 7019 Pleasant Ridge Rd. The last item on the agenda includes possibly acting on personnel issues involving Portillo and deactivation.
You can find a copy of the agenda here.
