Starbase, the company town established by Elon Musk's SpaceX in South Texas, is moving to create its own municipal police department. The Starbase city commission recently approved an ordinance to establish the department, which awaits final approval from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE). According to local news outlet Valley Central, the new force will be led by a chief of police elected by the commission and plans to hire up to eight officers, with operations potentially commencing within a few months.
The primary motivation for forming the department is asset protection, as articulated by Starbase city administrator Kent Myers.
"There is a lot of assets here with the operations of SpaceX," Myers told Valley Central. "Those assets need to be protected, and so the police department will play a critical part in protecting those assets."
It remains unclear whether Starbase has formally submitted its application to TCOLE, as neither the city nor the commission responded to requests for comment. Starbase has reportedly engaged security consulting firm Vision Quest Solutions to assist in the department's establishment.
Starbase serves as SpaceX's primary site for manufacturing and testing its prototype Starship rockets. Despite its critical role, the city is relatively small, housing only a few hundred residents, predominantly SpaceX employees and their families. Its geographical isolation is notable; the nearest town, Brownsville, is approximately 10 miles away, a drive that can often exceed 45 minutes.
This new police force marks the latest expansion of public services in Starbase since its incorporation as a city last year. In October, SpaceX employees residing in Starbase established a volunteer fire department. Concurrently, the city introduced a fire marshal position and began managing its own building inspections and permitting processes.
Initially, Starbase attempted to manage law enforcement through a contract with the Cameron County sheriff's office. The city struck a $3.5 million, five-year contract with the sheriff's office that aimed to deploy eight deputies to the area, with two patrolling at any given time. Additionally, Starbase secured an agreement last year to utilize the county's jail, committing to pay $100 per inmate per day, plus any associated medical or other expenses.
However, this arrangement ultimately proved unsuccessful. Myers explained to Valley Central,
"We didn't have a lot of success in finding deputies through the county, so we decided to change direction."
Sheriff Manuel Treviño attributed this difficulty, in part, to the contract lacking civil service protections for the deputies.
