Mayor Schupe Swears In First Officers of New Las Animas Police Department

Mayor Charles Schupe administered the oath of office in a public swearing-in that established the initial roster of officers for the newly created Las Animas Police Department, an event the City described as historic and held Feb. 23, 2026. The ceremony marked the first formal step in standing up a municipal police force for the City of Las Animas.

City materials provided to reporters state plainly that "On Feb. 23, 2026 the City of Las Animas publicly swore in the initial officers for its newly created Las Animas Police Department (LAPD)." That language ties the event to the department name LAPD, which in this context refers to Las Animas and not any other jurisdiction that uses the same abbreviation.

A City of Las Animas Facebook post carried the headline "City of Las Animas Mayor Charles Schupe Gives Oath of Office to New Police Force in Historic Swearing In Ceremony on Monday, February 23," attributing the oath administration to Mayor Schupe and characterizing the ceremony as historic. The Facebook post and the brief city materials are the principal public records available about the event at this time.

The city press materials describe a video of the ceremony, and those materials note the video was posted by a local community media channel. The supplied materials do not identify the channel by name, nor do they include a link to the video in the excerpts provided to reporters. The existence of the recording was confirmed in the city materials, but the published excerpts did not include the video itself or a transcript.

Key operational details remain unreported in the materials made available so far. Neither the Facebook post nor the supplied city press text names the newly sworn officers, provides the number of officers sworn in, identifies the police chief who reportedly also took an oath, or gives a specific venue or start time for the ceremony. The user-provided title referenced officers and a chief taking oaths on Feb. 23, but no source in the supplied materials supplied the chief's name.

Municipal officials have released a brief public notice and a social post that document the oath administered by Mayor Charles Schupe and the City's characterization of the swearing-in as historic; further documentation that would list officer names, identify the chief, provide the ceremony video link, or outline staffing and operational plans was not included in the supplied materials. Until the City of Las Animas publishes that additional information, reporting on staffing, leadership and next steps for the newly created Las Animas Police Department remains limited to the Feb. 23 public swearing-in and the City’s social media characterization of the event.