As part of the my ongoing open records work I requested the racial profiling data for our local DPS office. I received a breakdown of stops, citations, and searches by race/ethnicity for all stops in Kaufman county for the first 6 months of the year. Texas law requires the recording…
What happens when an inmate sues the sheriff for open records information? Today’s case of the day is In Re Brian Edwards Johnson- In 2008 Brian Edwards Johnson was incarcerated in the Kaufman County jail and sustained an injury. Not sure why he was in jail, or what the injury…
Just got this in last week. It includes the testing procedures for controlled substances. In your typical dope case the DPS lab sends a short one page summary of the results of their testing. ADA’s never think to question the veracity of these results. The assumption is that the lab…
As part of my regular open records work I ask for LEO disciplinary records. Today I received a thick envelope with over 60 pages of complaints and source material, including a DVD I haven’t watched yet. This complaint stood out- On March 7th, 2005 Trooper XXXX was counseled for requesting…
The rise of the paramilitary SWAT team is a testament to the failure of America’s criminal justice system. It defines the transition from peace officers, to law enforcement. One problem with giving the government the power to kick in doors while playing army is that the government can’t be trusted…
Today I received my new 841 page DPS general operations manual on CD. I thought I knew most of DPS’ crime investigation techniques. This section on hypnosis took me by surprise. 25 .05 .00 GENERAL The use of hypnosis as an investigative tool for law enforcement is a fairly recent…
www.sobrietytesting.org is the National Sobriety Testing Resources Center. This website limits access to police/prosecutors and shares DWI testing information. Defense attorney’s aren’t welcome. Naturally, I filed an open records request with the Department of Public Safety to see what documentation, emails, or letters they had from this group. Today I…
The police pull you over and find a suspicious white powder in your car. You swear this powder is for your athlete’s foot. The police believe this powder is cocaine. You are booked into jail. Bail is set at $25,000. The powder is sent to the DPS lab for further…
A TDCAA message board post led me to the National Sobriety Testing Resource Center, www.sobrietytesting.org. What is the NSTRC? From their website Welcome to the National Sobriety Testing Resource Center (NSTRC). The purpose of the Center is to provide a comprehensive source of information regarding standardized field sobriety testing, training…
I am starting work on a new open records project for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Texas already has many individual defense lawyers doing some great open records work. However, these records are not easily shared with other defense attorneys. Ergo, the benefits of these records are not reaching…