TexasCHLforum.com

jimlongley wrote:Anyone know how many police agencies there are in TX? I was starting to think of a FOIA request to every one concerning their "policy" of disarming ALL CHLs on contact. A logistical nightmare to be sure, but maybe our membership could accomplish it by distributing the labor.

According to TCLEOSE, as of Jan 7, there were 2649 police agencies in Texas. As you say, it would be a logistical nightmare.

E.Marquez wrote:

steveincowtown wrote: Being able to articulate why the information needed is for the public good is usually key to getting the information for free and in a timely manner.

Thanks for the tips..
So your saying I should use some justification other then " Data to be used to support this checking of CHL's weapon serial numbers to be unconstitutional, and possible a criminal act.

In Texas law, the agency is not allowed to ask for any justification or use of any information requested under a public information request. You simply need to make a written request to the agency and they have ten business days to answer. There is a charge allowed if the work to produce the information is excessive or the cost of copying the information is. If there will be a charge, the agency must provide you with an estimate within the ten days. If there is a dispute over whether or not the information requested is public, the agency must tell you within ten days that it is requesting clearance from the AG.

The way to get the information you want is to make as specific a request as possible, in writing, to the agency's open records office. DPS's policy and procedures for requests are on this web page: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/pia.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I just wanted to clarify one point that GigAg04 made in this comparison. TCLEOSE can suspend a peace officer's license for many reasons, not just criminal convictions. In general, the suspensions for convictions are based on if the person will be eligible to get a license back while the revocations are based on convictions that are permanent bars to police employment.

Also, the publication GigAg04 referred to is the list for suspensions/convictions based on criminal actions only. For example, in Sep 12's quarterly meeting, the commission suspended well over the 23 indicated licenses because they failed to complete their required in service training. Obviously, this would nto be fair to include in the comparison for convictions.

I also wanted to point out that there are some very weird cases included in revocations. For example, one new person had received a traffic ticket in Washington state for driving on a suspended license. It is just a ticket there, but it was a class B misdemeanor here. He reported the ticket on all of his applications and went through the academy and was licensed. I don't know how, but someone at TCLEOSE caught it and they revoked the license for his being ineligible due to a class B conviction. I don't know if DPS could due that with a CHL or not.