A bill would have closed a notorious loophole that lets Texas police departments hide records of jail deaths. But it failed to pass the Texas legislature, thanks to fierce opposition from one of the most powerful police unions in the state.
Texas enacted a statute in 1997 exempting records of police investigations that didn’t end in a conviction from the state’s public record law. The aim was to protect the privacy of innocent suspects, but police departments soon figured out they could also use it to withhold information on deaths in police custody, since you don’t convict a suspect who’s dead. Continue reading “Texas Police Union Kills Effort To Close State’s ‘Dead Suspect Loophole’”