WHY DOES TEXAS NEED DPS TO WORK IN THE BIG CITIES?

BY Trey Rusk

Running Code 3
December 26, 2017

The Texas Legislature has asked Texas DPS to cut its budget.

The Texas DPS works state highways for traffic violations and car crashes. They also run a crime lab that accepts evidence from small and medium size agencies from across the state and processes the evidence for free. Oops. Now the Texas DPS has proposed charging for processing evidence and the state's Sheriff's and Chief's of Police are hopping mad.

Some of these small cities can't afford to pay a lab for evidence processing. This budget cutting suggestion may have just been reminding the state legislators about who runs what in Texas law enforcement because their phones started ringing immediately. Nobody has mentioned it in a while. Why, it's almost as bad as when Texas DPS decided to reduce the hours of eleven drivers license offices last June.

Citizens squealed like a pig stuck under a gate. They rescinded that order because they realized it was a burden on the people needing to renew or apply for a drivers license. I don't know how long it has been since you last had to visit a drivers license office but the lines for customers sometimes stretch out on to the sidewalk.

Now you would think that the last two budget cutting ideas that didn't work would ring a bell at Texas DPS headquarters. It didn't. Texas DPS may not see that they have a lot of manpower being wasted in urban areas. Can someone tell me why The Texas Highway Patrol is patrolling areas that already have multiple jurisdictions covering the same areas? I'm talking about Houston, San Antonio, Dallas/Ft. Worth and El Paso.

I would think the Texas DPS would limit its activities and expertise to the state highways connecting these cities and assist the smaller jurisdictions with iys expertise. These metropolitan areas do not need its crime lab or the Texas Rangers because they already have well trained investigators.

I would assign DPS cruisers between Katy and Seguin on I-10 or between Conroe and Ennis on I-45. These are the Texas Highways and Freeways. The Texas Rangers are needed for heinous crimes committed in rural cities and counties, but not really in urban areas. Now this is a real cost cutting idea.

How come the bean counters at Texas DPS can't see this? Because just maybe it's all about power. State troopers are just that, even in Houston.

Citizen tax payers remember this: We are the customers of the state's budget. As Henry Ford said:

"It’s not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It’s the customer who pays the wages."