Prior to Having License in Hand....

[Charles L. Cotton]

Whether or not someone pursues an action based solely on principle has to be their decision based upon their personal circumstances.

I absolutely love to be in a courtroom! I love an audience. When I was a young attorney, I'd fight to the last drop of blood without giving a second thought to the aftermath my clients would have to live with, even if we won. A victory can cost clients a substantial amount of money if I'm defending a civil case and reliving a tragic death or catastrophic, life-altering injury in a courtroom opens old wounds, sometimes permanently, when I'm representing Plaintiffs. As time passed I came to learn that while I love fighting to the last drop of blood, it's not my blood, it's my clients' blood. Although I still love to be in court as much as I ever did, I make sure my clients fully understand the ramifications of a trial. As a young attorney I was a cheerleader to clients; as an old trial lawyer with gray thinning hair, I try to be more of a statesman.

Chas.

[Keith B]

My advise is to continue with your plans. I think the irresponsible person here was the officer. He is obviously arrogant, lacks common sense, and has no empathy or compassion. Not exactly what I would call as the ideal features of a police officer. Not persuing it sends a message that he can get away with his behavior. I also think you may help keep this from happening to another person in similar circmstances.

The officer sounds like a young punk with a shiny new badge. He's letting his Harry Callahan ego overload his Barney Fife.

With all due respect you really don't know the background of the officer, so your statement is stereotyping. There are some very veteran officers who are as bad or worse on taking issues personally (like CHL or car carry) and having the view that they will write you for a violation no matter what because they don't believe in a non-LEO carrying.

[joe817]

Charles, how true, how true. Spoken like a true diplomat.

[lws380]

My advise is to continue with your plans. I think the irresponsible person here was the officer. He is obviously arrogant, lacks common sense, and has no empathy or compassion. Not exactly what I would call as the ideal features of a police officer. Not persuing it sends a message that he can get away with his behavior. I also think you may help keep this from happening to another person in similar circmstances.

The officer sounds like a young punk with a shiny new badge. He's letting his Harry Callahan ego overload his Barney Fife.

With all due respect you really don't know the background of the officer, so your statement is stereotyping. There are some very veteran officers who are as bad or worse on taking issues personally (like CHL or car carry) and having the view that they will write you for a violation no matter what because they don't believe in a non-LEO carrying.

Although there is likely some stereotyping as you say, I'm curious if you by chance know the officer and/or his background that is contrary of the stereotype? I too do not know him but I have hired and supervised many individuals over my career. I typically did not care to much about experience and knowledge. To me a good employee was one that was caring, eager to learn, showed initiative, honest, empathetic and a hard worker. To me these traits are most important. I'm not sure the officer in question has these traits, but it appears he does not from the previous post. Trying to train an individual that lacked some of these traits was nearly impossible.

[WildBill]

Whether or not someone pursues an action based solely on principle has to be their decision based upon their personal circumstances.

As time passed I came to learn that while I love fighting to the last drop of blood, it's not my blood, it's my clients' blood. Chas.

That is exactly my point. For the people involved in a lawsuit, it can be a long drawn-out endeavor that is extemely costly - both emotionally and financially. For the lawyers, it's just another day at work.

[Budge]

Hello again. I just got off the phone with the attorney for the DPS. I thanked him for his letter first. I did not tell him that I was offended by the "cautionary" portion of the letter because I had a feeling that he didn't know the facts of my case. So then I asked him why they decided to drop my case. As it turns out, I was right...he didn't know. The decision to pursue the case was his discretion, and apparently the new laws have removed all penalties for failure to display. He could have taken me to court because the laws aren't on the books yet, but he decided not to.

He was very nice, and seemed surprised that I would take the time to call him. So I explained to him what had happened, and he wasn't surprised by that at all. In his opinion, this was clerical or administrative problem that had started a bureaucratic mechanism that could only be stopped by someone with discretionary power or a ruling in court. There really wasn't much to talk about because the laws are changing the problem is going away.

I originally wanted to ask him to look into or comment on the actions of the officer. But since he didn't have the facts, it would just have been my word. I decided not to get him involved. I've already filed a complaint with the Plano PD. I may follow up with them and let them know that the case was dropped. I'll let the officer's superiors wonder why.

Hopefully, that's the end of the story.

[dicion]

The decision to pursue the case was his discretion, and apparently the new laws have removed all penalties for failure to display. He could have taken me to court because the laws aren't on the books yet, but he decided not to.

To the DPS Attorney knowing the new laws already! Thats good news for all of us.

[Budge]

On second thought, I'm going to write a letter to the attorney. I'm going to thank him for his discretion, and lay out the facts of the case. As long as I'm going to have this incident in their internal records (which he confirmed are confidential and cannot be expunged), I might as well have my side of the story in there, too. And if the attorney wants to send something to the officer's department, then he can use his discretion again if he chooses.

[FlynJay]

When you lay out the facts, include copies of the documents proving your side. This will have more weight than just your word.

[Budge]

The saga continues...

Even though the attorney for Texas DPS dropped their case against me, I had already filed a complaint against the officer for maliciously pursuing my suspension even after I offered to provide him with an affidavit of my innocence from the DPS.

Well they finished their review and basically determined that there was no evidence that the officer acted maliciously. The officer lied to the review board and said he never received a call from me (even though it was on his department voicemail system). And they blamed the fact that I was never sent copies of the Suspension Form (as required by Texas law so that I may defend myself in court) because of a misunderstanding with their Records Department. But it's been almost 3 months, and I still haven't received it.

I found out during the process that the officer was still pushing for my license suspension with the DPS AFTER I had filed my complaint and provided his Professional Standards Unit with a copy of an affidavit from the DPS stating that I had done nothing wrong. When asked why the officer did that, he stated that it wasn't his responsibility to look at the proof, and if I was really innocent, then I should go to court and prove it.

So I asked to speak with his superior officer. This guy has the gall to tell me that it doesn't matter what I say or what his officer or department did or didn't do. In his mind, I broke the law (regardless of what the DPS says) ... period. If I didn't like how I was treated, then I should take it up with the DPS. The truth of the matter is that even though his officer was under review, he didn't know any of the facts of the case, had not ever seen my affidavit, and has very little knowledge of the DPS codes regarding his responsibilities after reporting a violation. He didn't even know if his Records Department had followed up by sending me the required documents, even though he took sole credit for changing their policies to correct the misunderstanding.

So what it all boils down to is NEVER TRUST YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO DO THE RIGHT THING. According to them, that's not their job. My advice to anyone in Texas who is waiting for their CHL is NOT TO CARRY until you have the card in your hand. Don't every give them anything that they can use against you...chances are they will.

[Keith B]

The saga continues...

Even though the attorney for Texas DPS dropped their case against me, I had already filed a complaint against the officer for maliciously pursuing my suspension even after I offered to provide him with an affidavit of my innocence from the DPS.

Well they finished their review and basically determined that there was no evidence that the officer acted maliciously. The officer lied to the review board and said he never received a call from me (even though it was on his department voicemail system). And they blamed the fact that I was never sent copies of the Suspension Form (as required by Texas law so that I may defend myself in court) because of a misunderstanding with their Records Department. But it's been almost 3 months, and I still haven't received it.

I found out during the process that the officer was still pushing for my license suspension with the DPS AFTER I had filed my complaint and provided his Professional Standards Unit with a copy of an affidavit from the DPS stating that I had done nothing wrong. When asked why the officer did that, he stated that it wasn't his responsibility to look at the proof, and if I was really innocent, then I should go to court and prove it.

So I asked to speak with his superior officer. This guy has the gall to tell me that it doesn't matter what I say or what his officer or department did or didn't do. In his mind, I broke the law (regardless of what the DPS says) ... period. If I didn't like how I was treated, then I should take it up with the DPS. The truth of the matter is that even though his officer was under review, he didn't know any of the facts of the case, had not ever seen my affidavit, and has very little knowledge of the DPS codes regarding his responsibilities after reporting a violation. He didn't even know if his Records Department had followed up by sending me the required documents, even though he took sole credit for changing their policies to correct the misunderstanding.

So what it all boils down to is NEVER TRUST YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO DO THE RIGHT THING. According to them, that's not their job. My advice to anyone in Texas who is waiting for their CHL is NOT TO CARRY until you have the card in your hand. Don't every give them anything that they can use against you...chances are they will.

Sounds like a call to Chief Rushin as well as the City Attorney Diane Wetherbee might be in order to see what his/her take is on this.

Then again, since there is no other pursuit on this, I might just let it drop if it was me.

[Budge]

OK, so I called my Texas State Reps office and told them that Plano PD is withholding my records. A while later, I get a call from Police Chief Rushin's office. I was told that I have to fill out an Open Records Request form in order to receive the Suspension Form and the officer's account of the traffic stop. I responded by saying that I was not required to fill out anything because DPS Code GC 411.187b states "The officer shall send a copy of the form and the attachments to the license holder." He told me that unless I filled out a request, I would receive nothing from Plano PD. I asked how he could possibly charge me with a crime without providing me with a written copy of the charges. It violates my rights and the DPS code. He didn't care. So, I have a call into DPS for further clarification and to see if they will exert some influence.

[Budge]

My state representatives office was shocked to hear that Police Chief Rushin's own office was refusing to provide me with information. So while they called the DPS, I called the city attorney's office. I'm not sure exactly who said or did what, but 30 minutes later I got a call back from the state rep's office saying that Chief Rushin himself had been contacted. After he did a little digging into my case, he informed my state rep that he would take care of the situation. Shortly thereafter, I got another call from the Plano PD Records Department, who said that a copy of all records would be in the mail to me today.

It's really a shame that I had to do that much hollerin' to get anyone at Plano PD to do the right thing. My hat's off to Libby at Texas State Representative Brian McCall's office for making that second call after Chief Rushin's office blew her off the first time. I plan to write them a nice "thank you" letter tonight. Feel free to do the same if you feel strongly enough about what happened.

Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions and support.

[Carrots]

Well done, it is always nice to hear from folks with a back bone!

[03Lightningrocks]

All I can say is WOW!!!! Very disappointing to read that our local police department is conducting business like this.