HOUSTON — KHOU 11 has won a prestigious National Murrow Award for Continuing Coverage into the Coffee City Police Department.
KHOU 11 Investigates found that in a Texas town of about 250 people there were 50 sworn police officers. That's five times the number of any town its size.
Journalists Jeremy Rogalski, John Gibson and Jennifer Cobb found that more than half of those officers had been suspended, demoted, terminated, or dishonorably discharged from their previous law enforcement jobs. The misconduct ranged from untruthfulness and excessive force to criminal charges of official oppression and aggravated assault.
Since the story aired, city council members fired the police chief who hired them and shut down the department. A grand jury has indicted seven former officers, including the police chief, for tampering with government records.
You can watch our investigation into Coffee City in the video window above.