Fort Bend Bonuses

Fort Bend County Sheriff Deputies got an unexpected Christmas bonus this year. An anonymous donor spent nearly $250,000 in which deputies got a bonuses in the range of $1,000. It was interesting that the Chronicle article really didn't spin this in a negative light. The Texas Penal Code has an offense titled 'Gift to a Public Servant' which reads;


(a) A public servant in an agency performing regulatory functions or conducting inspections or investigations commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from a person the public servant knows to be subject to regulation, inspection, or investigation by the public servant or his agency.

(b) A public servant in an agency having custody of prisoners commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from a person the public servant knows to be in his custody or the custody of his agency.

(c) A public servant in an agency carrying on civil or criminal litigation on behalf of government commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from a person against whom the public servant knows litigation is pending or contemplated by the public servant or his agency.

(d) A public servant who exercises discretion in connection with contracts, purchases, payments, claims, or other pecuniary transactions of government commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from a person the public servant knows is interested in or likely to become interested in any contract, purchase, payment, claim, or transaction involving the exercise of his discretion.

(e) A public servant who has judicial or administrative authority, who is employed by or in a tribunal having judicial or administrative authority, or who participates in the enforcement of the tribunal's decision, commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from a person the public servant knows is interested in or likely to become interested in any matter before the public servant or tribunal.

(f) A member of the legislature, the governor, the lieutenant governor, or a person employed by a member of the legislature, the governor, the lieutenant governor, or an agency of the legislature commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from any person.

(g) A public servant who is a hearing examiner employed by an agency performing regulatory functions and who conducts hearings in contested cases commits an offense if the public servant solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from any person who is appearing before the agency in a contested case, who is doing business with the agency, or who the public servant knows is interested in any matter before the public servant. The exception provided by Sec. 36.10(b) does not apply to a benefit under this subsection.

(h) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.

(i) A public servant who receives an unsolicited benefit that the public servant is prohibited from accepting under this section may donate the benefit to a governmental entity that has the authority to accept the gift or may donate the benefit to a recognized tax-exempt charitable organization formed for educational, religious, or scientific purposes.

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 915, ch. 342, Sec. 11, eff. Sept. 1, 1975; Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3238, ch. 558, Sec. 5, eff. Sept. 1, 1983; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 304, Sec. 4.04, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.

Sheriff Wright appears to have done this well. First, nobody except the sheriff knows who the donor is. Second, the donor doesn't reside in Fort Bend County. Third, the extra money was taxable income meaning some of it went to Uncle Sam. This doesn't happen very often so I say let it be. Fort Bend doesn't pay much anyhow.

Lawsuit Going Forward?

It looks like Houston Police Officers Union is moving forward with the lawsuit against Marvin Driver and Quanell X. When one reads the letters sent to Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos there is an interesting line about it being the policy of Chuch Rosenthal not to prosecute anyone for making a false complaint against a police officer. While the police hating community (i.e. thugs, so-called intellectuals, so-called civil rights activists) thinks it should be okay to make false complaints "to protect free speech" people miss a crucial point. No police officer wants to be the subject of a complaint or an internal affairs investigation. Much less a false one. Their lives can be ruined, they can lose everything. However many people don't care so let me put this in a context you can understand. Let's say your own child got mad at you and decided to get even. So, your child contacts the police and CPS and says you sexually molested and assaulted them for years. Now, you'd be visited by CPS investigators, probably losing your kids. You'd be interviewed extensively by police. The news media gets a hold of the story and looking for an evening audience they post your face on TV with the headline "Parent Accused of Raping Child." What do you think your family would do? What would your friends do? How much longer do you think you'd have your job? All knowing that your child lying yet nobody believes you. Keep that in mind when someone wants to argue that public servants should be open to false complaints. They have lives like you do and can lose it all because of some malicious, self-serving con-man in a fancy suit who is loved by the media.

Read the letter from the HPOU to DA Lykos.

Texas Officer Helps Save Woman in Washington D.C.

With most press about the Harris County Metropolitan Police Department here is a positive story. We'll see if the local press gets a hold of it. Metro Officer Eliot Swainson was working in Washington D.C. at the inauguration of President Obama when he heard a woman was stuck on the tracks as a train was coming in. Unable to pry her off the track Officer Eliot helped push the woman into a crawl space as the train passed over. The 68-year old woman was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Kudos to a Texas officer doing a great job in Washington D.C.

Read the story here:

Watch the interview here:

HPOU Wants An Investigation Into Driver

Remember the Driver incident? Marvin Driver was arrested on traffic warrants and unresponsive when he was brought to the Houston Police jail. He was in the hospital for a few days. Mr. Driver claimed he was beaten, and forced to ingest cocaine. While the investigation was ongoing nobody knew the officers' side of the story. Of course Quanell X was all over the cameras grandstanding as usual. The investigation the cleared the officers and of course the usual suspects scream the usual catch phrases (i.e. cover up bla bla bla). Well, interesting tidbit, cocaine was found in Mr. Driver's system. Now, why would police force him to swallow cocaine when they could go from a minor warrant arrest to a felony charge? The HPOU wants an investigation into whether or not Mr. Driver should be indicted for perjury. This will be interesting to watch. It will be an uphill battle since Mr. Driver's story is etched in stone and to change now wouldn't be prudent. I wouldn't be surprised if the ACLU get involved since they have argued that false complaints against police should be allowed. Meaning, in some cases, the ACLU does support perjury which I would imagine is somewhere against a lawyer's oath/ethics (I know, lawyer, ethics, give me a break). Either way it won't hurt Quanell. After all, since Al Sharpton is given a pass by the media on the Brawley fabrication, then I'm sure the chronicle will give Quanell a pass here.

Death Row Inmate Eats Own Eye...Cool!!!!

This sounds like a scene out of a Wes Craven movie. A death row inmate takes out his own eye and eats it! My first reaction was a morbid one. Cool!!!! Remember Chainsaw and Dave and the 'classroom massacre' scene in Summer School? This death row inmate in the Polunsky unit murdered his wife, a 4-year old and a 13-month old child. Is anyone really disturbed by this? Better yet, is anyone actually feeling sorry for this guy?

KHOU Figures Out Club Creek is Dangerous

I found another example of information that the media seems to be just picking up on that police have known for years. KHOU channel 11 posted this story about a mile-long stretch of road considered to be one of the most dangerous in Houston. Well duh! The street is called Club Creek. Listen to Houston Police's radio and every day, mostly night shift, you will hear Club Creek come up several times. There are slum apartments, and a night club out there. That street was infamous before 2005 so not much blame can be given Hurricane Katrina evacuees for this one. Club Creek was a sh**hole before they came. I invite everyone to take a virtual drive down Club Creek courtesy of google streets. Let me know what you think!