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Both of you caught one problem, the other problem is that there is no real disciplinary authority. They can report the conclusion to the department and if the department refuses to do something, they can report it to the local DA.

My fixes to the bill would be to have the board be half and half officers and non-LEOs. Make the officer ranks include some patrolman or detective and some front line supervisor as well as some management ranks say two patrolman, one sergeant, one rank of lieutenant or above and then five non-LEOs. Then I would also provide for it to report the agencies to TCLEOSE and also the incident to AG if the local DA refuses charges. If a mixed rank board like that feels there is something wrong, there probably is and it really needs punishment. That means you might need to get it out of the local area/government to get the problem fixed. For example, i cannot see the DA in Bexar County doing something if the San Antonio police chief refuses and asks him not too.

seamusTX wrote:We also have multiple levels of checks and balances:

• Local police can be investigated by sheriffs and DAs.
• County officials can be investigated by state police and the attorney general.
• The state police are answerable to the governor and legislators.
• The federal Justice Department can investigate everybody.
• Federal law enforcement is answerable to Congress.
• Civilians can sue officials in federal courts.
• News media can investigate and stir up public opinion, which elected officials respond to.

It's not a perfect system, but no system is. It's a lot better than countries that have national police forces and prosecutors and courts that are not independent.

Add to the list that, in Texas at least, the local police can also investigate the county or state officials. And Travis County DA can investigate almost any political official in the state, for mos official type crimes.

And most importantly, thanks to Lon Horiuchi, state officials can investigate and prosecute federal officials for violations of state laws committed while on duty. The local DA indicted him for murder and fought it all the way up, SCOTUS ruled that way, and then the replacement DA decided to drop the charges after SCOTUS made the ruling.

And I also wanted to agree that this system has flaws, but it is the best system I have seen yet. I am open to suggestions on how to improve it.

And if anyone is curious, there is a bill (HB 1470 http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82 ... 01470I.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) to create a state civilian review board to investigate complaints of abuse of authority or excessive force by any peace officer in the state. I have some problems with this bill, so I have not decided yet if it is a good thing or not. It definitely has the potential to go either way.