In Response to Law Enforcement Tune-Up Commentary

It seems that in Texas there are many areas in need of an overhaul. I think that it is safe to say that many questionable people find their way into a position of power in America. David made an interesting argument in his Local Law Enforcement Needs a Tune-Up commentary about police abusing their power. It seems that in order to identify any source of a problem you have to start with the root.

Thus, the minimum qualifications and disqualifiers for a police officer applicant for the City of Austin can be found here. After reading through this information I feel comfortable with how the City of Austin chooses its task force, there are many disqualifiers that deal with mental illness issues as well as legal ones. It seems safe to say that you have to have a pretty bland background to make the police force; however, nothing is without flaw.

It could be possible that the experiences David was encountering was simply a thorough police officer. All of the events described were reasonable actions that were being enforced. While it may seem that the police officers were "bullying," if we look at the situations from a different light it shows a law abiding officer. While this can be annoying to innocent civilians, many things are necessary for our protection that we may not understand at the time.

I don't agree that all policemen and women are perfect or untainted; however, I do think that a majority of them are out to serve and protect our state and its inhabitants and I would personally rather have an over-zealous police force than a lax one.

Texas Can't Afford $1.4 Million Mistakes

Can Texas afford $1.4 million mistakes? Ask, Anthony Graves, who just received a check for his wrongful imprisonment in this amount from Texas Comptroller Susan Combs. With current lack of money available and budget slashing in necessary Texas public programs, mistakes like these just shouldn’t happen.

Currently, the Texas Justice System budget includes approximately $3.3 billion in annual state spending for public safety and corrections, plus another $175 million for the court system. Additional millions are spent by counties and municipalities across the state, as well as by the federal government.

It would seem that with such a large budget to work with, the Texas Justice System, wouldn’t have so many exoneration's/mistakes. However, currently out of the 28 states that exonerated inmates, since October 27, 2010, Texas is ranked 3^rd, with 12 exoneration's. These include Anthony Graves, who was incarcerated for 18 years for the murders of a family of six in Somerville, Texas; and, Robert Springsteen who was convicted in the deaths of four teenage girls, in what is known as the Yogurt Shop murders in 1991.

The Timothy Cole Compensation Act allows for $80,000 for every year incarcerated and a lifetime annuity to be paid to exonerated prisoners. Under this act; however, Anthony Graves wasn’t entitled to any money because he wasn’t listed as “not guilty,” so Governor Rick Perry signed a new law that allowed him to receive his $1.4 million and health benefits.

While I agree that anyone exonerated of a crime should be fully compensated, it seems that Texas can’t afford to make such expensive mistakes. We are an economy in struggle, and with an ever-growing population, money is needed to improve our current conditions. According, to the Innocence Project; in Texas, state leaders are awaiting a commission study on the effects of innocence-related laws on eyewitness identification, the recording of interrogations and post-conviction DNA testing. While it seems that Texas is trying to right its wrongs, there needs to be an overhaul within the state’s justice system to bring down our numbers of exonerated prisoners and in turn reduce spending; in laments terms, we need to stop wrongly convicting so we can save money.

Border Security: Are we at risk?

Border security in Texas deserves federal attention is a commentary written by Todd Staples, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, for the Austin American Statesman. Staples, clearly directs his article to all Texans, national leaders and even the President. Staples’ commentary can be found here.

Staples, maintains that Washington continues to report that our American border is under control and safe, while he believes that we need federal military response to stop the “brazen criminals from invading our country and harming our citizens.” He reports that our current border patrol and local law enforcement are outnumbered and outgunned and currently the federal government has no intention of increasing its aid to this cause. Staples, has also launched a website that documents any incidents on the American side of the border and can be found here. He urges the President to recognize the recent violent border events and to act “before more innocent Americans have to pay a price that could be avoidable.”

The following are the recent attacks on U.S. citizens along the border:

·         June 19, 2011: U.S. Border Patrol shot at by drug traffickers in an area that has seen repeated shootings aimed at U.S. law enforcement.

·         June 9, 2011: Texas Department of Public Safety employees and game wardens shot at by drug traffickers.

·         March 11, 2011: Ranch foreman injured from shots fired by suspected drug cartel members.

·         February 18, 2011: Two energy company employees assaulted and robbed.

While I agree with Todd Staples that border patrol is “serious business” and more actions should be taken to prevent border security within the state of Texas; I do not feel that federal military response from the President of the United States is a necessity at this point. Staples, closes his argument with “If we continue to allow criminals with ties to Mexican drug cartels to run amok with guns blazing while peddling drugs and trafficking humans across our border, it’s only a matter of time before the body count in America starts catching up to those south of the border” which seems a little overly dramatic. I appreciate Todd Staples’ point of view and his call of action for the protection of Texas and American citizens; however, passing strict immigration laws would surely help to counteract this growing concern as we currently have larger priorities that require the use of our federal military.

Public Education: No Longer a Texas Legislation Priority

“Why no commitment to the next generation?” is an opinion-based article, geared towards all Texas residents, written by Nick Jimenez; the editorial page editor, for the Corpus Christi Caller Times that can be found by clicking on this link. Jimenez presents an argument that Texas legislation is no longer concerned with public education; rather it is being put “just ahead of welfare for deadbeats.”

Jimenez states that the legislator’s $4 billion public education cuts come with many excuses including; schools having over-paid administrators, too much waste and simply giving the voters what they wanted, less taxes.  The basis of his argument concludes within his statement, “less money means cuts in programs, kids deprived of learning opportunities and the degradation of public education.” Currently, Texas is one of the fastest growing states in America adding over 845,000 students to the public education system in the past 10 years and nothing has been allotted towards this growth.

It would seem that Jimenez has created a valid argument as we continue to push away from the idea of providing a better education for future generations inside of our legislation. The formula for public education funding, while faulty, was the first in line for budgeting by the Democrats and Republicans, it will now get what is left over. The public education system has always been an area in need of improvement and more funding. This public education budget slash becomes a huge cause for concern for me; as a mother, with one child currently in the school system and one on his way, and as a concerned Texas resident for other children. We need to be improving our education system so that we can prepare future generations for positions of leadership.

“Every American who has enjoyed and benefited from public education owes a great debt to earlier generations who invested in schools even in the hardest of times. Consider the founders of Texas who made better schools one of their prime reasons for seeking independence. Those earlier generations weren’t thinking about the next election or only about their next tax bill. I guess those are the priorities now.”

Getting Paid Without Showing Up to Work

Recently a special session was held for lawmakers from May 31st - June 29th; however, many members of the House were absent but still getting paid.
Currently the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate receive a daily amount of $150 regardless of absentee status. As a result of such major absences the House had to adjourn during June 20th and 24th citing lack of quorum or at least 51 lawmakers were absent.
However, there were five Representatives that requested they not be paid during certain days of this special session. Also, Texas Senator Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, requested to not be paid while he was not in Austin.
The per Diem amount allotted to Senators and members of the House was recently decreased from $160 to $150 per day due to the $27 billion shortage for services.
I would think that people would want to read this article because it pertains to where the money for our state is going and all losses in some way impact every ones livelihood in Texas. We need to be aware of unnecessary spending and find better ways to cut back rather than from schools and from health care.

Click here for full article.