Latest / Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement / #004-"POLICE and Politics"

Transcript

#004-"POLICE and Politics" · Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement

0:23
SPEAKER_02: All right, welcome back, TMPA listeners.
0:26
SPEAKER_02: We've got some uh got some special guests in the house.
0:29
SPEAKER_02: Special.
0:29
SPEAKER_02: They are special.
0:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh to my left is Dallas Reed and John Wilkerson with our government affairs team.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh Dallas, how long have you worked for TMPA now?
0:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh coming on three years now.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: Wow, it's been that long.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: Seems like years today since you got hired.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: It's been quick, but it has been.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: Every day's been great.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: J Dub, how long have you been with TMPA?
0:49
SPEAKER_02: A little over 10 years now.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: And you started off uh Dallas was you were hired straight into government affairs.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: Yes, sir.
0:55
SPEAKER_03: You were hired on the I was on one of the grant training programs.
0:58
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
0:59
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
0:59
SPEAKER_03: And uh moved over to grant management and then over to field services and landed here at government affairs.
1:06
SPEAKER_02: Landed.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: So uh to the listener out there or the watcher, uh our watcher.
1:14
SPEAKER_02: Uh the people watching that.
1:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, to the people watching uh on uh on YouTube and so forth, uh these guys work so sessions every two years.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh these guys are the ones that maintain relationships with your state reps, your state senators, uh the governor's office, lieutenant governor's office, and so um they testify at house committees.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean, and we're gonna kind of get into how bills are created, how they're executed, what all happens, and and really what you guys do.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: Um for for listener, really quick, or some folks that may not pay too much attention, most state legislators are every year, they're annual.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: Texas is pretty unique in that ours is every other year, January through May.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: It'll kick off January 10th or 12th of this year.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: And unless there is a special session set afterwards, it'll end in May.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: Most states uh or legislatures are in session every year.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: Texas is pretty unique.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: And it's in Austin.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: I do know that.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: At the Capitol.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: Very good.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: We've been working with on geography.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: Very good.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: I've studied that.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: Good point.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
2:22
SPEAKER_04: No, we've got a great process here in Texas.
2:24
SPEAKER_04: I per personally prefer it and uh don't really care what all they do in the other states.
2:28
SPEAKER_04: I think we do it best here.
2:29
SPEAKER_04: Uh as you said, every two years the legislature meets, and then in the interim, they actually go through and review uh bills and build implementation, see how it's going, and that way we can adjust and possibly come up with new legislation to address any issues that have come up over the past two years.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: How many bills right now are you guys?
2:49
SPEAKER_02: So we uh are kind of approaching the first year, approaching that that January 10th date.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and as of right now, how many bills are you two monitoring uh that aren't really that are related to law enforcement to some degree?
3:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so there's currently 1,175 bills that have been filed to date.
3:09
SPEAKER_03: That's as of about 230 this afternoon.
3:11
SPEAKER_03: And we're currently we're tracking 317 of those bills that somewhere touch our members.
3:17
SPEAKER_03: So it may not be a direct law change, modifying a penal code or something, but one things that we always have to watch out for here is they could file a bill that remotely touches, say, something in civil service, right?
3:29
SPEAKER_03: So uh if an amendment gets dropped onto that and it's germane to it, then that could open up the door.
3:34
SPEAKER_03: So we have to categorize those bills as well uh to to be monitoring those.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So and for context, almost 1,200 bills filed in pre-filing actually just opened two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a coup a coup a couple weeks ago.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: So two weeks, two and a half weeks, almost twelve hundred bills filed, and we haven't even started session.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: That's insane.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
3:56
SPEAKER_02: This is this is what's always fascinated to me.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: In last session, uh I got to be heavily a part of one specific bill.
4:03
SPEAKER_02: Uh it died on the House floor.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: Senate floor.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, Senate floor.
4:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh but it each bill has got an extremely unique story behind it, and there's so many different moving parts.
4:16
SPEAKER_02: So can you guys kind of outline, and it could be as as crazy as you know, we want to pass a bill that directly uh you can only drink Yeti cups on Saturday with TMPA logo on it.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: With TMPA logo on it, that you can only do this, and how that process would start.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: So from start to finish uh on bill processes and kind of go through that and say, okay, so you want to have a cup on Saturday.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh, well, we know that Dallas has got a relationship with this state rep and senator's office.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: We know JW's got relationships with these offices.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: Let's let's get it going.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: And then how that process from start to finish, how much work, and that's that that's what I'm trying to say also, is how much work, legitimate work, goes into each single bill and how many bills were filed last session?
5:00
SPEAKER_02: Like a couple of thousand.
5:02
SPEAKER_03: I think somewhere around 9,000.
5:04
SPEAKER_03: Am I thinking correct there, Dallas?
5:05
SPEAKER_03: There's nine thousand.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: There's nine thousand unique, crazy stories of so much leg work, so much, and that's what people don't understand to the average listener out there, or the the the you know, like several years ago, ten years ago, I had no idea how this process even worked, where it started.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: He was in the seventh grade.
5:21
SPEAKER_02: I was in the I was in the tenth grade.
5:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so now looking back on it, I'm like, I wish I would have been started, or I wish I would have been way more involved back then, but people may not know that process.
5:31
SPEAKER_02: If you guys want to kind of explain that.
5:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Dallas, you want to kick it off?
5:34
SPEAKER_04: Uh sure.
5:35
SPEAKER_04: So you're right, each bill has its own unique story.
5:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:38
SPEAKER_04: Uh in past jobs, that's how I would actually start out uh calling out different representatives or calling up different representatives and say, Yeah, well, what's the story behind this?
5:47
SPEAKER_04: Calling up and calling out.
5:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's a little bit different.
5:49
SPEAKER_04: I feel like we don't call out the state room.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: We love you working here, and I think if you called them out, we probably would have to change the employment aspect.
5:56
SPEAKER_04: It it uh it all starts somewhere, and it's usually somewhere in the district.
5:59
SPEAKER_04: Uh something that affects one of their uh constituents.
6:03
SPEAKER_04: Right.
6:04
SPEAKER_04: And first the bill's filed.
6:06
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
6:07
SPEAKER_04: Kind of the easy part.
6:08
SPEAKER_04: Dun dun dun.
6:09
SPEAKER_04: From then there is a very long process, and the process itself is kind of designed to make sure that the legislation doesn't get passed.
6:16
SPEAKER_04: It's very hard to pass a bill, and whenever one is passed, somebody, and in a lot of the cases it's going to be JW and I or someone else at the organization is working very hard to pass it.
6:26
SPEAKER_04: And we're very happy to have or not pass it.
6:29
SPEAKER_04: Or not pass it.
6:30
SPEAKER_04: Or go against something that's that's not fulfilled.
6:33
SPEAKER_04: Especially uh last session session, there was uh quite a few of bad bills that were filed, and we had to work really hard to make sure that we could protect our members.
6:41
SPEAKER_04: And uh fortunately or unfortunately, that's where we spent most of our time last session.
6:47
SPEAKER_04: Uh this session we've got a really robust uh legislative agenda uh that we're gonna be rolling out.
6:53
SPEAKER_04: We're gonna talk about some of those bills today.
6:55
SPEAKER_04: Not everything, but but quite a few of them.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: But a key point you hit on filing the bill is the easy part.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: It's picking the football up and trying to get it first down and then maybe hopefully try and get one more first down, and hopefully ultimately is in the other end zone.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: But filing the bill is about the easiest part of the process.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's like.
7:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that that is.
7:17
SPEAKER_03: And you know, take it a little step further.
7:19
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, like Dallas is saying, the the Texas legislature is designed to kill bills.
7:24
SPEAKER_03: You know, that's the way that it was designed so that we don't have a bunch of crazy laws.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: Right.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: It's checks and balance.
7:28
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, you you get a you get a bill filed on the House side of it, and now you got to you know put it on a committee.
7:33
SPEAKER_03: It gets read in the floor and then assigned to a committee, and then it's got to go to that committee, and it it, you know, it's up to the committee chair.
7:38
SPEAKER_03: Do I want to call this bill up, give it a hearing?
7:41
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then if the bill gets a hearing, then they don't necessarily have to take a vote on it there either.
7:46
SPEAKER_03: You know, they can just uh just pass on it and let it die right there in the committee, or they can take a vote on it and pull it out of committee and then send it over to the calendars to be put on another committee to see if it's gonna be heard by the entire House floor, right?
7:58
SPEAKER_02: There's the there's come then the politics aspect of it.
8:00
SPEAKER_03: Right, you know, and then and depending on the type of bill it is, and you know, is there a bill that this other legislator has filed that you know that they're trying to get moved along and you know, some some political traction like that takes place.
8:12
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, just gamesmanship that's common, you know, just about everywhere you go.
8:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh and so it it makes our job a little bit easier on that aspect when it's a bad bill because we know that they already have a steep climb ahead of them, right?
8:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
8:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but it doesn't diminish the fact that you know it's it you you better have some comfortable shoes while you're working in the Capitol.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: No doubt.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, I don't know how you guys do it.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's uh And I think that's where you guys are kind of the unsung heroes in the core mission of what you guys do is is having professional relationships with legislators and chiefs of staff and staffers so that if we do have a important bill or if a very important anti-law enforcement bill comes forward, is relationships and networks that you guys have built is being able to go in and leverage those friendships and relationships of man, this this is really bad, and we really need to share with you why and how bad this is for us, or this one's super important, and I know we bring other bills to you, but and that's really the unsung thing that you guys really um are the movers and shakers of that network that you build and that web of interactions that you can leverage when needed that that doesn't really get uh you know, it's passing a bill and we passed a bill, yeah, but it's it's all the work that went into walking the halls and 14,000 steps on your Fitbit trying to communicate the message.
9:42
SPEAKER_04: As hard as we work and as much as we're walking the Capitol, we can't do anything without our friends.
9:47
SPEAKER_04: So it's our it's those relationships that that we spend uh building and during the interim, during the legislative session.
9:54
SPEAKER_04: That's the most important thing that we do, and we rely so heavily on the people that are pro-law enforcement at the Capitol.
10:01
SPEAKER_04: So can we be friends?
10:02
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I think so.
10:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay, see something developing.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: I'll just make sure.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm me and Clint were working on through our relationship, and I just if I could gain a friend anytime I can, I will.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: It's complicated.
10:11
SPEAKER_02: It is.
10:12
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna kind of yeah.
10:15
SPEAKER_02: So you guys have got some bills outlined.
10:17
SPEAKER_02: Um I'm not sure if we these are bills that that that we're for, that we're tracking to be against, but you guys are kind of kind of flow into that.
10:24
SPEAKER_04: The the bills that we're gonna be talking about today are all bills that are part of our legislative agenda.
10:28
SPEAKER_04: Okay, cool.
10:29
SPEAKER_04: That's our game plan.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: That is our game plan for this game that's about to kick off in January, is is our legislative agenda is what you call our game plan.
10:40
SPEAKER_03: Right, yeah.
10:40
SPEAKER_03: And it's important for everybody uh watching and listening to this to understand that uh, you know, our our agenda comes from our board of directors, right?
10:48
SPEAKER_03: They're the ones that approve our legislative agenda.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Right.
10:51
SPEAKER_03: Uh so it's it's real incumbent upon our members and and those listening that rely on us to go down and and take on these battles uh on our members' behalf to understand that there's a long process that goes into this.
11:04
SPEAKER_03: And uh you can't spring something on us January 30th right after session starts and say, Oh, hey, I got this great bill idea.
11:13
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, you may have a great bill idea, but most of the legislators, like we're seeing here with the number of bills that are filed, they're already trying to get their bill filings out of the way.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:22
SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, you bring something to them late, you're you're gonna be real lucky if you can even find somebody that's wanting to carry that.
11:27
SPEAKER_02: So because there's a process.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: Just like you said, it's designed to kill bills.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: And so uh if a state rep wanted to file a bill, it would go to the House Committee, uh, go back to the House floor, be voted on, and then has to repeat the process to the Senate.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: So it yeah, you're right.
11:43
SPEAKER_02: You you need to go ahead and get out in front of this as quick as you can.
11:45
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, don't don't no offense to the listener or the other watcher here.
11:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh if you have a bill idea, don't wait till January 10th to give us a call.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, start working on it.
11:56
SPEAKER_02: Now they should have already been working on it already.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: The 18 months when session didn't end, is a great opportunity for the what do you call them watchers?
12:04
SPEAKER_01: The watchers.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the warriors.
12:07
SPEAKER_02: You you have a uh a nickname now, watchers.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: But that's a great time because these guys during the offseason, in addition to training and modeling, um they are also continuing to network.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: They're working out bills, uh, developing this strategy, this game plan.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a bill, once the game started, it's a bad time to try and come up with a new play.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: But the 18 months in the offseason is a great time to start trying to figure out hey, this is an issue at my department, I'd like to get with you guys, and can we craft a way to get that to get that in there?
12:44
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, we flipped a coin before we started this, and uh Dallas won the toss.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: Speaking of game plans, so Dallas, if you want to kind of kick it off and just kind of outline where we are with some of the bills that we're looking at.
12:56
SPEAKER_04: Uh sure.
12:57
SPEAKER_04: And as I said, this isn't our full bill bill list, but uh it's some of the major ones that we're gonna be rolling out.
13:02
SPEAKER_04: I'm glad that JW brought up our board.
13:05
SPEAKER_04: Uh they again they uh they bless the not only bless the agenda, but uh it's a they're all full-time working peace officers.
13:13
SPEAKER_04: So we can sit around here in Austin and dream up anything that you know that we could think of, but really where the good ideas come from are those officers that are out there working every day.
13:22
SPEAKER_04: So uh to start with, I'm gonna go over the petitioners for civil service bill.
13:27
SPEAKER_04: This is one that we worked on last session.
13:29
SPEAKER_04: We're gonna work again this session.
13:31
SPEAKER_04: Uh there are some municipalities out there that uh basically say, well, while you're a peace officer and you work in in our our city, uh if you're gonna circulate a petition uh for a ballot initiative, then you need to be a citizen of that municipality, which on its face, I I can kind of see where they're coming from.
13:51
SPEAKER_04: Right.
13:51
SPEAKER_04: But the fact is, and I think uh our our watchers uh can uh can attest to, sometimes it's really expensive living in some of these these cities.
14:01
SPEAKER_04: Uh we're talking whether we're talking about Houston, Austin, any of these, uh a lot of our officers, a lot of our members uh have to commute to work.
14:09
SPEAKER_04: And I think it's very clear that they have a vested interest in making sure that they have a say in how their agency is run.
14:17
SPEAKER_04: So whenever it comes to uh you know circulating these petitions, we just want to make sure that they're able to do that.
14:23
SPEAKER_04: Cool.
14:24
SPEAKER_04: I like it.
14:25
SPEAKER_04: I do too.
14:26
SPEAKER_04: Uh another is county civil service.
14:28
SPEAKER_04: So again, something that we've we've tackled in the past.
14:30
SPEAKER_04: We're taking a little bit of a different approach and uh not gonna get too much in the details on it because we're still working out all of those.
14:37
SPEAKER_04: But uh the county, the shil sheriff's civil service uh bills, we're really gonna concentrate on on three things.
14:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh it's really just setting discipline standards, uh injury injury leave standards, and third-party arbitration whenever it comes to discipline.
14:54
SPEAKER_04: Um we've got a dispatcher bill that we're working on.
14:59
SPEAKER_04: And last session there was a bill that was filed and passed that uh really uh it it told police departments hey, you need to have a mental health lead policy for your officers.
15:12
SPEAKER_04: Uh these guys see the worst and just have to take take home and carry so much.
15:19
SPEAKER_04: And we just want to make sure that uh that they're taken care of, that they're reaching out whenever they do need help.
15:25
SPEAKER_04: So it's like while dispatchers aren't necessarily in the field, they're also having to deal with with and carry quite a bit whenever they're going through their calls and 911 calls.
15:35
SPEAKER_04: And we'd really like to make sure that uh that they're also receiving the help that they need.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Man, that's a great that's a great bill.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: Um we deal with the stress of a high stress call or a big incident, but we're actually there watching it, seeing it, and we can grasp what's going on.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: Right.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: I can't fathom sitting on the other end of a line hearing shots fired, officers down, you know, I've got a I'm sitting here with a dead baby, I'm trying to figure out how to do CPR.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: It would it would eat me alive trying to sit on the other end of a phone trying to listen to that and process and digest what I can't see and I'm just hearing.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a great bill.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: So it's just it's just adding dispatchers to the existing, is that the mental health for for peace officers for the workman's comp type stuff?
16:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it's not workers' comp.
16:20
SPEAKER_03: It's the bill that was passed last session that says, hey, you know what, if you're gonna employ peace officers, you need to have the mental health leave policy, and that mental health leave policy needs to outline how many days off they get.
16:29
SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
16:30
SPEAKER_03: Uh give them the resources that they need when they ask for that help.
16:33
SPEAKER_03: So the bill that passed last session, it was strictly for peace officers, uh, and it did not include dispatchers or any other public safety professionals.
16:42
SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: And so we are trying to expand that to dis to include dispatch and who else?
16:47
SPEAKER_03: Anybody right now it's just dispatch.
16:49
SPEAKER_03: Uh we would suspect that probably our friends over uh with the fire department, you know, the the firefighters, uh, you know, they they have a group of individuals that work down there uh for their behalf.
17:00
SPEAKER_03: And with Dallas, correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect they're gonna see that and they're probably gonna want to jump on it and and try to get some language added there for them as well.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:08
SPEAKER_03: I can see that.
17:09
SPEAKER_03: I can and I can understand.
17:11
SPEAKER_03: It's better for us to fight with them than fight against them.
17:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it so part of the problem that you run into is when you start putting too much onto a bill, for every person that you put on, you've opened up three more doors of folks that are probably gonna fight against you on that bill.
17:25
SPEAKER_03: So you got to be real careful on what doors that you're opening up.
17:28
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes it's just taking those small bites at a time to show the naysayers this is not this big issue that you think it's going to be.
17:36
SPEAKER_03: Right.
17:37
SPEAKER_03: You know, we we put peace officers on it.
17:39
SPEAKER_03: Well, what kind of big problems are there?
17:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
17:41
SPEAKER_03: I'm not hearing of any.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
17:45
SPEAKER_04: So the next you actually know quite a bit about this.
17:48
SPEAKER_04: Uh it's our peace officer uh school transfer bill.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:51
SPEAKER_04: And uh it it passed last session in the House.
17:54
SPEAKER_04: Uh didn't have a problem in the Senate other than we just started hitting some uh deadlines kind of to the to the process that the the process itself is kind of designed to to kill bills.
18:04
SPEAKER_04: Uh we ran into one of those deadlines last session.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Has anybody picked up that bill or volunteered to pre-file it?
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Has anybody prefile it yet?
18:11
SPEAKER_02: So working on that right now.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I got you.
18:13
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
18:14
SPEAKER_02: It died on the house on the Senate floor.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: I think it was the night of the walkout.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: Honestly, I think that's what happened.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: It was.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:20
SPEAKER_03: They there was a lot of bills that died on the walkout.
18:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that 12th hour walkout from the 87th, yeah.
18:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:26
SPEAKER_04: So what what this bill, uh, you know, we we talked about some of the real issues that our members face and telecommunicators.
18:33
SPEAKER_04: One of the things that unfortunately happens is the children of police peace officers are, I'd say, I'd go beyond bullying, I'd say threatened.
18:42
SPEAKER_04: Threatened because of what their mom or their dad does for a living.
18:45
SPEAKER_04: They're out there, you know, protecting and serving, and unfortunately, the kids sometimes you know see the consequences of the other.
18:53
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I suffer from it.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: We had an officer-involved shooting, and uh turned out bad guys' kids went to school with the officers' kids, and the day after the shooting, officers' kids come home crying and screaming, saying, Why is everybody at school saying my daddy's a a killer?
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Terrible.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: And turns out that one of the guys that that testified on that on that bill was a uh sergeant there at Marshall Police Department, uh, Sergeant Jamie Lemming.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it was crazy.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: So he's on a call uh situation and he gets a phone call, and the guy knows where his kid goes to school at.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: Well, uh the area there, uh several other school districts have transfer fees.
19:30
SPEAKER_02: And so it yeah, I think there there is an actual state law right now that that uh waives transfer fees and opens up the ability for military.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: So why wouldn't you do that for your local first responders who are boots on the ground there locally?
19:43
SPEAKER_02: So uh that's why that bill really didn't have any resistance.
19:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was just the walkout thanks to another party.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: Um they decided to walk out and it which is the that's up that's up to them, but it that's what killed that bill.
19:55
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, we're gonna be running at it again.
19:58
SPEAKER_04: Hopefully it's gonna pass this session, but again, uh it would just basically allow uh the peace officer, the parent, to uh petition the school district to transfer their kid if their kid's in danger, they feel that their kids are in danger.
20:10
SPEAKER_04: Cool.
20:11
SPEAKER_04: Uh one more.
20:12
SPEAKER_04: I'm sure we've all seen case uh cold case files.
20:16
SPEAKER_04: What do you think?
20:17
SPEAKER_04: And you you probably all know the answer, but for the viewer again, for the watcher, the watcher, what do you think the statute of limitations uh is currently here in the state of Texas for tampering with evidence that has to do with a murder, even if it we're the evidence that we're talking about is a corpse.
20:39
SPEAKER_04: Ten years?
20:40
SPEAKER_04: Three three years.
20:43
SPEAKER_04: Oh wow.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: So it's not much of a cold case.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: It's still open in three years.
20:49
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
20:49
SPEAKER_04: And most of these these cold cases are they're gonna have to take twenty, thirty years to to actually adjudicate.
20:55
SPEAKER_04: So you're speaking of like a murder happens today.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh I dispose of the body.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: Right.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: Uh I go back didn't commit the murder, just helped dealt with the body.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:11
SPEAKER_02: So I go back four years from now and I move the body again.
21:15
SPEAKER_02: Um so I I wouldn't be breaking a crime at that point.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: That may end that may actually be a second.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that would be a new offense.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: If you if if I kill somebody and you help me move the body in four years from now, you walk forward and admit that you did it.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: I didn't say I okay.
21:30
SPEAKER_04: So let's say you didn't move it the second time.
21:32
SPEAKER_04: Uh you you moved it the you moved move help move it the first time.
21:36
SPEAKER_04: Uh after three years and one day, you can tell who anybody that you want to about it, and there's nothing that the prosecution can do to you.
21:45
SPEAKER_03: Or Clint hands you the gun, you drive across a bridge, you throw it off five years later.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: You say, Hey, yeah, I know what happened on this murder.
21:52
SPEAKER_03: I'm the one that threw the gun off over there.
21:54
SPEAKER_03: I knew it was used on that homicide, which is why I'm just remember snitches get stitches full.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: What is today's date?
22:01
SPEAKER_04: Talking all that.
22:03
SPEAKER_04: So what this bill would do, I mean, quite simply, it would be getting rid of the statute of limitations on tampering with evidence that has to do with a murder.
22:11
SPEAKER_04: And I think it's it's something that's uh pretty common sense.
22:15
SPEAKER_04: It flew through the House once we finally actually got everything in in order, and uh Chairman Gehan carried that for us.
22:21
SPEAKER_04: He did a great job.
22:22
SPEAKER_04: He said he'd be carrying it for us again.
22:24
SPEAKER_04: Um there again, just hit another deadline in the Senate.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: And another opportunity to give families closure that may have been lingering for years, wanting some closure in a cold case.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: What a great opportunity to be able to come give some families some more closure.
22:40
SPEAKER_03: So at least some kind of justice.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
22:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'll tell you a great example on that, uh, which I'm not one to uh to really advertise for Netflix or anything, but uh, I was texting the team the other night, there's a really good Netflix series out the Texas Killing Fields.
22:55
SPEAKER_03: And if you really want to see why a bill like this is important, it's a short three series, watch that, and you'll see just exactly how many cold case murders there are from the I-45 corridor from the uh 70s, 80s, 90s, and I believe there might have been one or two in the early 2000s that are still going unsolved.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
23:13
SPEAKER_03: And they they think they know who it is, but you know, if if if that person comes back later or an accomplice comes back later and says, Well, yeah, I helped move the body, there's nothing you can do to them for it.
23:24
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
23:25
SPEAKER_04: And again, these aren't just great ideas that we dreamt up here in Austin.
23:29
SPEAKER_04: This came out of Williamson County and their cold case unit, something that we brought up and they came down and testified for it at the Capitol.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: It's a real timer told me he's come up with all these bills.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: It's not well Okay, I have to admit, yes.
23:41
SPEAKER_02: Okay No, no.
23:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so uh, you know, Dallas talked about um five of them, and I'll I'll talk about another five.
23:49
SPEAKER_03: Uh one of the big issues that have been plaguing our members for a long time has been workers' compensation.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: Uh and that's you know, this this bill right here is a perfect example of why we have to get started on these in the in the in the interim.
24:05
SPEAKER_03: We can't just get going right when session starts.
24:09
SPEAKER_03: Uh because I found that every time I made a word change in one section of the labor code, it touched three or four other sections of the labor code and the insurance code and the government code.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh best way I can describe it is on these workers' comp cases, we um TMPA hired an attorney to help draft some language on this bill.
24:31
SPEAKER_03: And I asked him, I said, man, why is this stuff so complicated?
24:33
SPEAKER_03: And he said, Well, that's because the lobbyists for the workers' comp insurance carriers back in the uh early 2000s, they basically lobbied the legislature to write the bills to keep lawyers out.
24:47
SPEAKER_03: And that's why to date you have about 60 attorneys across the state that will take workers' comp cases, and 40 of those work for the workers' comp insurance carriers.
24:57
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
24:58
SPEAKER_03: Only about 20 will actually work for an injured employee because the the there's just no money in it.
25:04
SPEAKER_03: Right.
25:04
SPEAKER_03: You know, if you find a workers' comp attorney that is taking your your injury case, uh you you better put them on your Christmas list because when you really dig down in the weeds and figure out what exactly it is that they're doing and to realize that they're not really getting paid for it, it's just a true mark to their excellent character.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
25:22
SPEAKER_03: So that you know what this bill's gonna do is is one of the things, big thing is is a designated doctor, uh, when you go to a designated doctor, now they're gonna have to, if this passes, they're gonna have to give uh an opinion on the extent of the injury.
25:34
SPEAKER_03: And what we were seeing and what we were coming across is we'd have members that would be at a training and they'd sprain their knee, right?
25:41
SPEAKER_03: They they do something in their knee, so they go to the doctor, the doctor says, yeah, it's a strained sprain.
25:45
SPEAKER_03: They go on, they do a little bit of physical therapy, then they go to um yeah, workers' comp, they want to send them down for what's called a maximum medical improvement, MMI, right?
25:54
SPEAKER_03: And so they take the little DWC form and they say, okay, well, here go see the designated doctor, and the designated doctor is asked to give an opinion on the strained sprain.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: Well, if it's a torn ligament, he can't give an opinion on that because the way that the the statute's written, is he has he has to answer the question that's on there.
26:12
unknown: Okay.
26:12
SPEAKER_03: So we're we're gonna take that out of there.
26:14
SPEAKER_03: We're gonna say, okay, you know what, designated doctor, if the designated doctor looks at this and sees that this is not a strained sprain, this is a torn ligament, now they can give that opinion on it.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: And they don't have to go through this big runaround.
26:24
SPEAKER_03: Another thing is it's a 60-day rule.
26:27
SPEAKER_03: Um the workers' comp insurance carriers, or if this bill passes, they're gonna have 60 days to deny.
26:32
SPEAKER_03: If they don't deny within 60 days, then they'll lose their right to deny.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: And I'll tell you, we've met with some of the workers' comp insurance carriers and they're not real happy about this.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: So they have 60 days to deny, otherwise it defaults to approval.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: Correct.
26:45
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
26:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:46
SPEAKER_03: And they lose their they lose their right to deny it and appeal that denial.
26:50
SPEAKER_03: Um now, they're they're probably going to uh the legislature's probably gonna put some language in there that uh basically stipulates if you're trying to cheat the system and you're withholding documents as found out later, yeah, that that 60-day rule is not gonna not gonna be abrogated at that point.
27:07
SPEAKER_03: Um I also allow the injured the injured employee to get treatment from their private insurance, right?
27:12
SPEAKER_03: So the injured employee, they get hurt, they're fighting workers' comp.
27:16
SPEAKER_03: Workers' comp's denying it.
27:18
SPEAKER_03: Well, okay, all of our members that I've talked to, they just want to get back to work.
27:21
SPEAKER_03: They want to get healed, they want to get back to work.
27:23
SPEAKER_03: They're not looking for, you know, some, oh, I spelt hot coffee on myself and I want to sue for$85 million type thing, right?
27:29
SPEAKER_03: Uh so they just want to get back to work, and so what this bill does is allow them to use their private insurance, get healed, get better, and then they can still appeal that denial, and if they win that denial, then they can get all their out-of-pocket money reimbursed to them from the insurance carriers.
27:46
SPEAKER_03: And then the last thing is on that bill is to allow representation from attorneys via teleconference.
27:51
SPEAKER_03: Uh, like I was telling you, there's only a handful of attorneys across the state that really know what they're doing when it comes to workers' comp and how to navigate through that highly complicated system.
28:02
SPEAKER_03: Because they don't make any money at it.
28:04
SPEAKER_03: I feel bad for a member that's Alpine, Texas.
28:08
SPEAKER_03: I don't know that there's a highly qualified attorney in that area that knows and has experience in workers' comp that's going to be able to help that member out.
28:15
SPEAKER_03: So this will allow that member to get get legal representation via video conference.
28:21
SPEAKER_03: So their attorney can now appear on video conference.
28:25
SPEAKER_03: Um outside of that, we also have uh Brady list issues.
28:29
SPEAKER_03: I think that's been a hot topic point for quite some time.
28:35
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, yeah.
28:37
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, this is a highly complex situation.
28:39
SPEAKER_03: You know, there's a bill that's currently filed, I believe it's 79, 799.
28:44
SPEAKER_03: Um we are working on some some language to help strengthen that bill.
28:51
SPEAKER_03: Uh part of the problem that you run into is there's a constitutional right for these defendants to understand and know uh you know about their accusers' right.
29:00
SPEAKER_03: We don't want to take that away, especially if you look at what's happening lately.
29:03
SPEAKER_03: There's so many of us that are ending up on that defense side of the of the table for simply trying to do our job, right?
29:09
SPEAKER_03: So uh we we have to balance that while also making sure that these prosecutors who are prosecuting for the wrong reasons, uh getting involved in politics rather than seeking out justice for victims, we have to make sure that they're not being victimized by by those individuals.
29:28
SPEAKER_03: Uh so that's that's another big topic area that's on our list that we're working on.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: In that that Brady put a DA on uh as a guest in a previous episode, and we were talking for some of the officers, and we've come across some that have no idea what what the Brady issue is.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: And you have 254 counties in Texas, there's about 220 or so DAs because some DAs cover multiple counties, but there is no policy, there's no statute regarding DA specifically, and so you have over 200 DAs executing or enforcing Brady over 200 different ways.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh some enforce it sparingly, and some enforce it as a weapon and weaponize it.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: Um and there's no due process.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: So if if I'm a DA in Travis County and I declare that right now, by gosh, uh John's a Brady officer, he has only he has no recourse.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: He has no appeal, no recourse, no due process to make me answer for why, or to clear his name and exonerate himself.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: And it's a death penalty more times than not for a career.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: And so the goal with the TMPA working on language and in uh Representative Cody Harris's bill is to begin to address and give some due process.
30:55
SPEAKER_03: Right.
30:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's it's just a crazy, crazy system.
30:58
SPEAKER_03: And Clint, like you said, two hundred and twenty-something DAs, two hundred and twenty-something different ways of doing this.
31:05
SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's that's just it's it's crazy.
31:07
SPEAKER_03: I no other word can come to mind when describing that.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: Um and there's nowhere in the fabric of our country where you can ruin somebody's career without due process.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: In the labor arena, in the criminal arena, um you know, we're watching every politician in Washington accuse each other of wrongdoing through committees and they have hearings, and you get to go face your accusers and and answer for that.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: It's woven into the fabric of our country that you have due process if I'm gonna accuse you of misconduct or wrongdoing.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: And it's crazy that I can ruin your career tomorrow permanently and never have to account for it, and you don't have a single way to answer for that.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: I think that's I think it's super important, Bill, that that uh all of our cops across Texas need to understand and be involved in.
32:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, interestingly enough, Clint, last session there was a bill that was filed.
32:04
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't specific to the Brady issue, but it touched on the Brady issue.
32:08
SPEAKER_03: And there was a prosecutor that came in and gave some testimony before the committee.
32:13
SPEAKER_03: And one of the committee members asked the prosecutor, Well, is there a due process for an officer?
32:18
SPEAKER_03: Is there any recourse for an officer that found themselves on this list?
32:21
SPEAKER_03: And the prosecutor said no.
32:23
SPEAKER_03: And ironically enough, within that same hearing, um the prosecutor admitted that he had placed some officers on that list.
32:30
SPEAKER_03: But then later in the hearing, when he was asked, Well, what's the criteria to be placed on that list?
32:34
SPEAKER_03: His response was, Well, I'm not real sure.
32:37
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I mean, I I was just floored listening to that, thinking, you know, you just potentially sat here and bragged about ruining officers' lives for an opinion, and you can't come across and tell this committee the subjective reasons or excuse me, objective reasons why you would put somebody on the spot.
32:54
SPEAKER_02: But I'm not surprised.
32:55
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm not really surprised to to it to a degree because I mean we do we have seen some incidences across the state where people do it, they they do it negligently and they do it abusively and they weaponize it, just like you said.
33:05
SPEAKER_02: And it's sad.
33:07
SPEAKER_02: It really is sad.
33:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh we should be on the same team, I mean, in in the grand scheme of things, and you're starting to see more victims of violence across the state.
33:15
SPEAKER_02: And uh ironically, the higher crime rates, the increase in crime rates are within the same areas that these people uh are sitting in office.
33:24
SPEAKER_02: And ironically, yeah.
33:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you one would think.
33:27
SPEAKER_02: Who the hell would have thought that?
33:29
SPEAKER_02: So anyway.
33:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and guys, that that takes us on to our next uh topic area that uh we're working on for legislative uh fix to this issue is uh uh ability to recall a rogue DA, do a recall election on them.
33:43
SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, we've we've got language uh that's been typed up, sent over leg count ledge council, it's it's back, and now we're waiting to find out uh you know who's gonna carry forward with this piece of legislation, but it will allow for the uh voters of a community to recall an elected DA if that elected DA just starts going way out wayward.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: And in most elected officials at the local level, state level, and national level, there's a vehicle for recall.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Is that correct?
34:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there is it's uh I believe it's chapter 83 or 86 of local government code.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: Um but the problem that is there with that one, Clint, is but I mean they're almost the there is a provision there, but it's quite vague.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: But otherwise, a city councilman or a mayor or most other elected officials, it's not as complicated to recall someone.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: DAs, I guess the point I'm leading up to is DAs are quite protected the way the current legislature is written, as opposed to say a mayor or a council member.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Um it's much more difficult for a DA if you have someone and and this isn't a bill that we're looking to try and utilize weekly or monthly, but when you have activist DAs that are not carrying out their business in the interest of justice to prosecute evildoers, they're using it as a political platform.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: There should be a mechanism or a vehicle for the voters, if they so choose, to recall that person, like we saw in San Francisco, and we're seeing some elected officials in Seattle and Portland.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: Right.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: There needs to be a vehicle for that.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: Is that is that the mission is a good thing.
35:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's that is the mission.
35:28
SPEAKER_03: Is this you know this is not going to give law enforcement a a means to get rid of a DA?
35:33
SPEAKER_03: This is gonna give the voters a means to get rid of a of a rogue DA.
35:36
SPEAKER_02: Can we include judges on the on the bill as well?
35:39
SPEAKER_03: No, you can't.
35:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh so Texas Constitution, yeah, there is a way.
35:42
SPEAKER_03: It just takes nine.
35:43
SPEAKER_03: Uh I did a lot of research in this.
35:45
SPEAKER_03: So it takes nine local attorneys to draft a letter to the Supreme Court of Texas if you want to do that.
35:50
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
35:50
SPEAKER_02: Because I've got a little problem in my area with certain judges that like to, you know, dabble in uh or stick their nose in before a case, and and I would love for them to be included in on that.
35:59
SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: What about captains?
36:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh, see, you can hear me, here we go.
36:04
SPEAKER_03: You know, Clint, I I I think I can get something whipped out for you this evening on that one.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: Will you be my friend?
36:11
SPEAKER_04: So, man, this is clearly a real problem.
36:13
SPEAKER_04: The lieutenant governor has dated as much.
36:15
SPEAKER_04: Uh, we're not sure which uh vehicle is gonna be used during this legislative session, but uh we're working hard to make sure that some some kind of change is made.
36:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that'd be awesome.
36:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was it was nice to hear you know the the lieutenant governor make that announcement at T Cole because it's something we've been working on for months and months.
36:33
SPEAKER_03: So uh, you know, to know that it's it on that it's on his radar means that it's gonna be uh gonna be given some priority.
36:40
SPEAKER_04: And then I'm sorry.
36:41
SPEAKER_04: No, and it's and it highlights the the realness of the problem.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Right.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and if it's on his radar, it probably means it pops up on other people's radar.
36:49
SPEAKER_03: Uh thank you.
36:50
SPEAKER_03: Just hit the nail right on the head, sir.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: Good job, Clint.
36:55
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
36:56
SPEAKER_03: So working hard.
36:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so then that takes us to the last uh or two two other ones.
37:02
SPEAKER_03: One of them is a it's a major issue, but a minor fix.
37:05
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, working on the field services side, you know, we take legal calls from our members and help them throughout those.
37:11
SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, I remember taking a couple different legal calls of members that uh just decide, you know what, this agency's not for me, and I'm gonna move on to a different one.
37:20
SPEAKER_03: And so they do everything the right way.
37:22
SPEAKER_03: They resign, they give their two weeks notice.
37:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but you know, when they do that, it upsets a certain department official.
37:30
SPEAKER_03: And then next thing you know, the department official all of a sudden finds a couple extra papers that we're gonna throw in his file.
37:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:39
SPEAKER_03: And you know, so then the poor guy or or or or lady goes to a different agency and fills out the application and they don't put that on their application.
37:47
SPEAKER_03: Because they may not know because they don't know, right?
37:51
SPEAKER_03: So then what happens is is they didn't know, and now they're being told, yeah, you you weren't honest with us about this, you're a liar.
37:58
SPEAKER_03: So now they're on a Brady list and they can't get rehired.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: Because they slid in a written reprimand or some document that wasn't in there after departure.
38:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so that's not cool.
38:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so we, you know, we we we found some language that we believe will work really well that basically stipulates, hey, you know what, when you when you resign, when you leave, uh whether you're terminated, you resign, you retire, when you leave that agency, when they give you your F5, they also have to give you a copy of your complete personnel packet.
38:29
SPEAKER_03: There you go.
38:30
SPEAKER_03: Simple.
38:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:30
SPEAKER_02: Which is Clinton says it really good.
38:33
SPEAKER_02: As the when the marriage is over, just let me let's let me believe.
38:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if it's if we've already signed the divorce paperwork, let me go.
38:40
SPEAKER_02: And I I don't understand.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: And you are right.
38:42
SPEAKER_02: We do get a lot of phone calls of that, or the department head, whether it be a sheriff or a chief, catches word that this person is leaving.
38:48
SPEAKER_02: Uh and it's usually they're upset for I'm I'm not giving them they're usually upset because they have invested the time and the schooling and so forth, but if that individual wants to leave your agency, then let them go.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand trying to keep somebody there and making Yeah, I think it's small-minded leadership at times because if somebody wants to better themselves and move on to a different agency, a larger agency, try a different type of law enforcement, you gotta be trying to grow your people rather than retaliating or taking it personal.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: Like Tyler said, Tyler wants a divorce, just let me have my dog and leave.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: And uh somebody wants to move on to a different agency or you know, move over to an ISD and be engaged with the cops, like departing the military.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: Let me have my service record book and copy my DDU 14 and let me roll on down the road.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
39:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so then our our last issue that that we were gonna talk about here today.
39:44
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, I I was coming to work one morning and I I hear on the radio that uh City of Austin has done something.
39:52
SPEAKER_03: I forget exactly what it was, but they did something they said, okay, our officers are not gonna enforce this.
39:57
SPEAKER_03: And then I saw where Austin?
39:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's surprised, isn't it?
40:01
SPEAKER_03: Really?
40:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was I was just as shocked.
40:04
SPEAKER_03: I was just as shocked, yeah.
40:05
SPEAKER_03: I was like Dallas said, it was pretty weird.
40:07
SPEAKER_03: Um I think I get where they get that now, right?
40:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh so big shout out to Steve Adler, by the way.
40:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if if he wants to come on and and talk about his uh the way he thinks, we would love to have him as a guest.
40:19
SPEAKER_02: So just put that out there.
40:20
SPEAKER_02: Whoever uh knows him personally or or some of his team, we would love to have him on and speak with him here in the TMPA uh blue grit podcast room.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm sure he'll be knocking on the door anytime soon.
40:30
SPEAKER_03: Hey man, you never know.
40:32
SPEAKER_03: Wishful thinking.
40:33
SPEAKER_03: Hey, we can we can hope, right?
40:34
SPEAKER_03: So uh then then you know it wasn't too much longer.
40:38
SPEAKER_03: Uh I was hearing not too far from where I live, the city of Kleene was doing the same thing with with drug laws.
40:46
SPEAKER_03: And uh then Harker Heights, and I'm hearing uh some agencies between San Antonio and Austin are doing the same thing.
40:54
SPEAKER_03: And you know, I I talked to the team about it and I said, you know, this is just crazy.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: We law enforcement, we have to stop being used as political pawns.
41:01
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
41:02
SPEAKER_03: You know, we if the state legislature, if they want to pass a law and they're gonna make it a law, fine.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: You know, we're it's not our job to make the law, it's our job to enforce the law.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: Uh but then when you get caught up between the state legislature and local politicians and they're fighting against each other and constantly dragging, the only person that gets hurt in that is the officer.
41:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh 100%.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: And that ties back into the DA bill.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: Right.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm retired from Garland, and and it was a huge joke of there's Texas penal code law and there's Dallas County law.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: And which one do you enforce?
41:34
SPEAKER_01: And we always enforce the penal code and they could do with it whatever they may once it got there.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: And then there's Garland Law.
41:42
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that why they have the blank pages in the back of all the law books you can just write it in there?
41:45
SPEAKER_03: Screw it in for Garland.
41:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: But you know, currently with the DA in in Dallas County, says there's no criminal trespass arrest and no theft under 750 if the items were needed.
41:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, criminal trespass laws can affect a lot of people, private homeowners, businesses.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of ways that it can affect that.
42:02
SPEAKER_01: And uh uh thankfully the chief that of the department I retired from was a strong leader, and he said, We're gonna enforce the law the way it's written.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: So you keep enforcing the law and putting people in jail, and whatever the politicians want to do with it, they can do with it, and but that's their problem now.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna enforce Texas penal code law.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: Right.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a great point when you brought this bill up a while back.
42:26
SPEAKER_01: The bill's there for a reason, and if you don't like it as a local leader or a local local official, then you need to go down and get your lobbyist guy to go do what you guys do because we're gonna enforce the law the way it's written.
42:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that's uh, you know, so we've we've got some language drafted and we're looking for some friends in the legislature to pick it up.
42:45
SPEAKER_03: Uh had a conversation this morning with some of our friends, and it it sounded like we're gonna be getting some really good uh headway on it.
42:52
SPEAKER_03: And basically this will put a stop to that mess.
42:55
SPEAKER_03: So we're real hopeful that we can get some good traction on it.
42:58
SPEAKER_02: Well, guys, I can't thank y'all enough, not only for what you guys do, uh day-to-day session to session, uh, but just this for us.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh being the fact that I'm a full-time cop and then I work for TNPA part-time.
43:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh thank y'all for what you guys do at the Capitol.
43:13
SPEAKER_02: It means a whole lot, and we can see it.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: So And y'all don't probably hear that every day.
43:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's it's the silent, it's the silent guy that's getting the stuff done behind the scenes.
43:25
SPEAKER_01: And when I'm out recruiting or visiting with folks, I'll tell them, you know, our legal plans are bread and butter.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: That's what people want to be a part of, and that's you shoot somebody at 2 a.m.
43:34
SPEAKER_01: you want to know you have a lawyer coming.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: Our training is is cool and we have sexy training, but the legislative effort that we're involved in is not the super sexy stuff, but it's the grunt work and the grind that affects the guy at a 10 man agency at 2 a.m.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: when they're involved in civil action civil asset forfeiture issue, uh search when they're you know, people are trying to take away the ability to do.
44:01
SPEAKER_03: Make it a felony to turn off your body cam.
44:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there are so many things that you guys are mitigating on a daily basis, putting fourteen thousand miles on your Fitbit that isn't super sexy, but it's vital to the core of the mission.
44:16
SPEAKER_04: Well, it's it's important for our members.
44:18
SPEAKER_04: It's important work and uh we're proud to do it.
44:20
SPEAKER_04: And there's a whole lot we have to be proud of last session.
44:23
SPEAKER_04: We hope to come back here and have the same kind of report.
44:27
SPEAKER_04: Um this is this is one of the most important things I've ever done is work for TMPA and the legislative team.
44:34
SPEAKER_04: Um so anything that we can do to make our our members' lives easier and make sure that they're effective at their jobs, we're here to do it.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't want to put pressure on you guys, but there's 32,000 cops that are depending on you every day.
44:47
SPEAKER_01: 32,000.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: Almost 33.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: They depend on you guys every minute of every day.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: So I don't mean to put any pressure on you guys, but just know I'm I've text all of me all the cell phone number and address.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: Told them that you guys were gonna knock it out of the park, so no pressure.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: Last three questions, and they're gonna be quick.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: Rapid fire.
45:06
SPEAKER_02: Rapid fire.
45:07
SPEAKER_02: Best cop movie or cop line.
45:10
SPEAKER_02: Line from a cop movie.
45:11
SPEAKER_02: Line from a cop movie.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: Best police car ever made, and best whiskey.
45:16
SPEAKER_02: J-dub, you lost the toss earlier, so you get to go first.
45:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so uh I'm gonna start those backwards.
45:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh Best Whiskey, uh Angel's Envy.
45:25
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, my man.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
45:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, it's it's just so rye or bourbon.
45:31
SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
45:32
SPEAKER_03: Rye or bourbon.
45:33
SPEAKER_03: You know, I like the rye.
45:34
SPEAKER_03: I like the finished rye.
45:35
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
45:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm good with that.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm I don't want to tell the story about Angel's Envy, but Angel's Envy and me don't get along with Yeah, we're probably hole on a podcast.
45:43
SPEAKER_03: No, yeah, exactly.
45:45
SPEAKER_03: Uh the uh the best uh cop car.
45:48
SPEAKER_03: Cop car, crown vic all day.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, whatever.
45:52
SPEAKER_03: The the crown, I mean that sucker was a beast and tanks, you know.
45:56
SPEAKER_03: I I wish I I wish I still drove one, you know.
45:58
SPEAKER_03: I did when I when I go to work in Bell County, which you know I'm still commissioned at, you know, we're in these Tahoes and I just I don't know, man.
46:06
SPEAKER_01: You just can't beat a good Crown Vic.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: Every episode answers Crown Vic, and Tyler gets excited.
46:11
SPEAKER_01: I can see his a day's 22.
46:12
SPEAKER_03: It is.
46:13
SPEAKER_03: They they're just they're they're sweet cars.
46:15
SPEAKER_03: And then uh Best Line from a movie, I think we're trying to keep this podcast PG, right?
46:20
SPEAKER_03: So cop movie.
46:21
SPEAKER_03: Best cop movie, cop movie or line from a cop movie.
46:25
SPEAKER_03: Or line.
46:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: The other guys.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
46:31
SPEAKER_00: Heck yes.
46:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me fly, be a peacock any certain line.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: Tyler just stole it for me.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: See?
46:40
SPEAKER_04: All right, now I'll sit it.
46:42
SPEAKER_04: So uh I try to stick to what I can afford, so we'll go makers.
46:45
SPEAKER_04: Can't go wrong with that.
46:46
SPEAKER_04: That's a very popular answer on the show.
46:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I've always liked the Ford LTD and cop movie.
46:53
SPEAKER_04: Go go ahead and make my day.
46:55
SPEAKER_04: Oh, there you go.
46:56
SPEAKER_04: That's some Clintishwood.
46:57
SPEAKER_01: That's a good one.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: You guys got a good day, yeah.
46:59
SPEAKER_02: Clint.
47:01
SPEAKER_02: Here we go.
47:01
SPEAKER_00: Just just rolls off your tongue.
47:04
SPEAKER_02: That that those headphones are about to break.
47:07
SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, I appreciate you guys turning in or tuning in.
47:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh J Dub, Dallas, we appreciate you guys coming down from y'all's busy schedules.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: We know you all do so much, and uh, we greatly appreciate it.
47:17
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
47:18
SPEAKER_01: We appreciate all you watchers out there.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you voice.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: All you watchers.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh man, God bless you guys, and as always, uh God bless Texas.
47:27
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
47:28
SPEAKER_02: That's a wrap.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: Signing out, stay safe.