About 20% of TX law enforcement agencies (mainly elected constables) have only one uniformed employee. Under SB15 by Sen. Phil King at the #txlege, these officers cd keep evidence of their own misconduct secret forever by choosing not to punish themselves, thus relegating the info to a secret file.
This is what Texans want I guess
FWIW, various versions of the bill have died 4 or 5 times so far. So not everybody. But Abbott put it on the special session again, so the fight continues.
Do southerners just like corruption and being robbed by people they pay? I'm kinda serious, though I know it sounds like a sarcastic question. But decade after decade after decade, they just bend over for this hokey pokey.
The truth will set you free, Texas.
Law enforcement records should never be sealed. Abuse of power, especially in Texas, by law enforcement should be transparent and accountable!
Uvalde, even AFTER the shooting, voted republican 2-1.
Jim Hightower used to say that if God intended for Texans to vote he'd have given them candidates. Uvalde didn't have any Dem (or R, ftm) that I know of running on a "hold the bastards accountable" agenda. What you're saying perhaps explains why, but can't never could.
“Nice work if you can get it “🎵🎵
According to data received by my better half from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, as of the most recent count, 542 agencies (19.62%) had one uniformed officer and 50 (1.81%) had zero. Presumably, the agencies w/ zero were one-officer agencies where the only guy left or retired.
Greg Abbott's motive for putting this bill on the call is almost certainly the Uvalde case. The litigation over public information requests to DPS about that day are pending at the 15th Court of Appeals, where the state is likely to lose. This legislation is a Hail Mary to keep those records secret.
But the effect on these small agencies is a huge unintended consequence. It makes those one-officer outfits completely unaccountable in a way that SHOULD be of serious bipartisan concern in a state with so many rural counties.
Constables holding themselves accountable, what could go wrong
Wheels Abbott's Texas. Corrupt as hell.
Man,Texas is a hot mess...no thank you.
Until the repeal of 50-a, fwiw, NY's law around these records was worse than Texas'. Then that was repealed, while we're basically shifting to the completely closed standard y'all had bf 2020. Nobody's got clean hands, red or blue, when it comes to protecting bad cops, I'm afraid.
Republican corruption and cover up..par for the course.
Texas needs a whole lot of renovation/reform/clean-up Texans are tough enough for the job, when they FINALLY set their minds and wills to it Please God it will be SOON
Watch it happen!
Texas is leading the way for the full Nazification of America.
You are not wrong. www.texastribune.org/2023/12/02/t...
what answers do they need? we all know that the cosplay cops did nothing and one heroic, unarmed mom, rescued her kids.
So bc "we all know" that, the details should all just be secret? No.
it should be recorded for historical purposes, but they are just re-writing history as we speak.
Okay. But recording them in secret files isn't the most helpful for historians. Perhaps it would be more helpful in confronting the rewriting of history to retain access to facts rn?
agree
Vote Republicans out of office. Problem solved.
This bill would make Texas current law as opaque as New York's was until 50-a was repealed in 2020. So plenty of Democrats want to protect bad cops, too. It's sort of a bipartisan hobby.
Like Texas hasn't failed all those families enough, here comes this bullshit
