OVERZEALOUS TRAFFIC COPS IN COMBES KILLING BUSINESS?

By Juan Montoya
For the past few years, residents and local businesses in the 3,000- resident city of Combes have complained that overzealous police department has made traffic citations a revenue generator while driving away economic development and business.
"People avoid even coming through Combes anymore," said a local resident. "They have heard about the cops handing out tickets like nobody's business. It has become an industry for them."
Records available from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) seem to support their assertions.

The numbers released by the Combes Police Dept. indicate that they issued 2,521 traffic citations, almost one per resident. By contrast, the Cameron County Sheriff's Dept. reported issuing only 2,517.
The numbers were available in the entities' racial profiling report required by the state.
La Feria, for example, only reported issuing 1,528 traffic citations and Port Isabel only 1,308, thousands less than little Combes. The town barely cover three square miles.
And, until the practice of using only one towing service ( Los Fresnos Ramiro Sanchez's All Valley Wide Towing) was discontinued, the majority of the cars towed away as a result of the unusually high number of traffic citations issued by the Combes cops went there.
The city instituted a towing service rotation soon after a series of articles appeared in the Valley Morning Star written by Emma Perez-Treviño.
"Amid figures showing that vehicle impoundments climbed nearly 700 percent in two years in this town north of Harlingen, and almost all the business was directed to one vendor last year, officials said they have addressed concerns of favoritism in the use of towing services," Emma wrote.
Residents say that the obvious cozy relationship between the local cops and Sanchez had reached the point where they questioned whether there was some payback arrangement between that firm and the police department.
In 2012, for example, 177 out of 179 vehicle impoundments were directed to Sanchez, a former Cameron County Constable.
"It was getting pretty bad," said a Combes resident. "One time they stopped a guy who owns a fleet of company vehicles and he didn't have a copy of the fleet insurance in his car. He asked the officer if he could call his wife to bring it to him. She was only a few blocks away. The officer didn't allow him to do it and had his car towed away by Sanchez in Los Fresnos.
Combes residents say that not only does the police department charge a $10 local fee, but that they also tack on a $75 "federal" fee on top of whatever the towing company charges for hauling the vehicle away and the additional impoundment charge.
"They are using the tickets as a form of raising revenue for the city instead of a service to serve and protect the residents," said the man.
 Combes Police Chief Patrick Quill has defended this department's actions and denied that there had been any collusion Sanchez and his department.
He said that business had been directed to All Valley Wide because there had been some issues with other firms and All Valley Wide, “provided the best services,” and rotation had not been a requirement.
Quill said that the relationship did not result from favoritism. “That would be absolutely untrue because when I came into Combes, I had no relation with anyone, either here at the town or with All Valley Wide Towing.”
\Whether Quill's statement are believable given the numbers produced indicating a clear favoritism is left to the reader to decide. However, a cursory glance at the Combes budget indicates that – unlike other Cameron County cities and towns – a significant portion of the city's budget comes from municipal fines, mostly traffic citations.
In the Fiscal 2016 budget, fines make up $433,000 of the total 1,252,646 in revenues,or about 34.57 more than one third of the total.
I-10 between San Antobnio and Austin has Schertz, the co-called Valley of the Bears. And everyone knows better than to go faster than the speed limit in Los Fresnos, a citywide speed trap.
But Combes residents say that it police department has made an industry out of traffic citations and it's hurting the little business generate there.
"It's killing businesses here," said one. "Nobody is coming here anymore and businesses who were planning on coming have grown discouraged because of the overzealous enforcement of traffic laws and the issuing of the citations. This has to change."