Police Accountability In Texas

Our Mission

Texas Police Accountability is dedicated to increasing transparency, documenting allegations of police misconduct, and making information about law enforcement accountability accessible to the public.

The records and information published on PoliceCrimes.com/Texas Police Accountability are presented for the purpose of informing the public and encouraging informed discussion about policing, accountability, and public policy. Our website may include news reports, public records, agency documents, court records, and other publicly available information concerning allegations or investigations involving law enforcement officers.

Whenever possible, we provide the underlying records so that readers can examine the information for themselves.

An allegation is not a finding of guilt. Individuals accused of wrongdoing are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. Readers should distinguish between an allegation, an administrative finding, a disciplinary action, a criminal charge, and a criminal conviction.

Balancing Power

Police officers are entrusted with extraordinary authority. Depending on their position and jurisdiction, law enforcement officers may have the power to detain and arrest people, conduct searches and seizures, carry firearms, and use force—including, in certain circumstances, deadly force.

With that authority comes a profound responsibility to follow the law, respect constitutional rights, and maintain the public’s trust.

When credible allegations of misconduct arise, they should be investigated thoroughly and impartially. When misconduct is substantiated, appropriate disciplinary or legal action should follow, consistent with the law, the evidence, and established procedures.

Accountability should not end when an officer leaves one agency and joins another. A documented history of serious misconduct can follow an officer from department to department, yet that history may not always be readily apparent to the public or to a prospective employer.

That is why we track disciplinary histories and what we refer to as “roaming cops”—officers who leave one law enforcement agency and subsequently obtain employment with another, including cases in which records indicate that misconduct or disciplinary issues preceded the departure.

Toward Better Police Accountability

We believe effective police accountability requires transparency, meaningful oversight, due process, and consistent enforcement of the law.

The goal is not to presume that every allegation is true or that every officer accused of misconduct is guilty. The goal is to make reliable information available so that the public can evaluate the conduct of law enforcement agencies and the outcomes of misconduct investigations.

Police officers, like every other person, are entitled to due process and the presumption of innocence in criminal proceedings. At the same time, the authority entrusted to law enforcement makes transparency and accountability particularly important.

Questions about police misconduct can involve both criminal and administrative systems. An officer may face a criminal investigation, an internal affairs investigation, disciplinary proceedings, civil litigation, or some combination of these processes. The standards, procedures, and outcomes can differ significantly.

Our work is intended to bring those records together and provide context so the public can better understand what happened, what was alleged, what was established, and how the responsible agency responded.

No One Is Above the Law

Public trust depends on accountability.

When government officials are given extraordinary powers, the public deserves transparency about how those powers are exercised and how allegations of abuse are handled.

We believe that making police records accessible helps journalists, researchers, attorneys, public officials, community members, and concerned citizens examine those questions for themselves.

Read the records. Examine the evidence. Follow the outcomes. Hold institutions accountable.

Police Accountability Needed

~ A Federal law is needed, making it a crime for police officers who commit acts of brutality and murder.

~ Civilian control and oversight of the police. Creating and strengthening civilian review agencies, putting early warning systems into place to identify officers who are the subject of repeated complaints.

~ Open police records in all states. This would give the public access to police records of misconduct.

~ End the 72-hour rule and the option to a trial by judge – Police officers accused of brutality and murder are given 3 days to “get their stories straight and view any videos of the incident.”

 ~ A national database open to the public with the names of bad cops so that they don’t become “gypsy cops.” A gypsy cop, sometimes called roving cops, is law enforcement slang for a peace officer who floats from department to department regardless of, or because of, misconduct or poor job performance.

~ A requirement that all law enforcement agencies consult that database before hiring.

~ Cash rewards for the exposure, arrest, and conviction of corrupt cops. 

 ~ Efforts should be made to combat the “code of silence.” 

Requirements of Police officers

 ~ Mandatory random drug testing for all police officers. Not just before employment, but also random drug testing during employment as a police officer. Police officers who are involved in an accident or shoot someone would be required to take a drug test and a Breathalyzer.

~ Police officers must record all traffic stops and encounters with the public.

~ Police must have documentation by either written consent or on video before searching a motor vehicle at a traffic stop. This would require police to inform drivers of their Fourth Amendment rights.

~ Set tougher standards for who can and can’t be a police officer.

~ Annual psychological evaluations.

~ Police would be required to use electronic recording of an entire police interrogation in cases involving homicides and other serious felonies. This measure would help end coerced confessions and protect both defendants and police. “Coerced confessions, false jailhouse informant testimony, and mistaken eyewitness identifications are the leading causes of wrongful convictions.”

~ An independent prosecutor is needed for police corruption and police brutality cases. Usually, District Attorneys work directly with the police daily. They rely heavily on one another to indict, prosecute, and try cases. They function as one institution, and to have a local DA prosecute a police officer is certainly a conflict of interest.

~ Police should have more training and assistance in coping with the demands that they face.

Fair Use

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(2) The nature of the copyrighted work;

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(4) The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

 The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such a finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.