Well, I guess it really is time for me to weigh in on this. I have had many favorable dealings with TABC agents and I look forward to more in the future. Of course, being their trainer, I tend to get a different view of them than some of you do.
Now, as for some of the specific questions posted, I will agree with Charles up to a point. The parking lot is considered to be part of the licensed premises under the Alcoholic Beverage Code unless it is marked off on the license application. The part I have a slight disagreement with Charles on is whether or not the officer should know about the lot in relation to weapons. My disagreement is that I know I specifically put into the legal updates class this year that the guns in cars was legal in the parking lot, even if it was part of the licensed premise. Charles was right until that point in September when they sat through that class. They may not have been taught in the past about how the lot is not premises for a CHL, as it is easy for the previous trainers to miss.
And since the lot is part of the licensed premise, you can legally take your drink into the lot. The bar owner may not allow this, but the officers will not stop you (or should not). Bar owners can make any rules they want, and they usually make them stricter than the law to cover themselves from accidental violations.
Charles is also right that most of you know more about CHL and weapons laws than the average officer does. It is not emphasized in the academy or most classes on laws. One reason it is not emphasized is that it is not a common crime area for the officers to deal with. Of course, we do not expect the officers to know all of the laws by heart either. What I have always trained them to do is know where to find the wording of the law and how to read it. Then I recommend that they keep the issued copy of the law book in their brief case in the car in case there is any question. It is not an embarrassment to say "I don't know and we can check" and pull out the book. I have done it many times.
Now, if the officer was rude, abusive, or just plain wrong, you have the right to file a complaint on him. You can do this in any of several ways. If you just want to discuss it with his supervisor to educate them about the law, you can always call the local office. WARNING: Some of the supervisors may be as much as 150 miles away from the local office in small rural towns. The local office or the main office can tell you who the immediate supervisor is and how to contact him. In the larger cities, the sergeant will be in the same office. I believe, and I may be wrong, in this case that Abilene has the sergeant there while the lieutenant is in Amarillo. I do know that the Captain has his office for that area in Lubbock.
Your other option is the more formal complaint, which would be more appropriate for being rude or abusive than just having a mistake in knowledge. In this case, you should call our Office of Professional Responsibility to file the complaint. This is what we call our Internal Affairs division. Full instructions, including address, telephone, and e-mail are available on our main web page by following the link marked "Complaint on TABC personnel" or at this link:
http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/opr.htm.
I strongly recommend that you file a complaint anytime you are wronged by any law enforcement personnel in Texas (well, actually anywhere but I worry more about Texas). The only way we can punish someone for improper behavior is to know what they did. If it is just you and him out there, we won't know until you call.
LEOs have to know the Texas Penal Code, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, county and city ordnances, traffic laws, and a myriad of other codes and statutes. No one, not even we lawyers, can possibly know all these in as much detail as TexasCHLforum members know the CHL laws. So I think it's understandable when a LEO misses a subtle point like we're dealing with in this thread.
