Tag Archives: Texas DPS

DPS getting thrust into even more dangerous work

August 19, 2019 kanelis2012

I have made an important acquaintance. He is a young man who serves as a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper.

He also has been tapped to serve — along with other DPS troopers — alongside Dallas Police Department officers in some of the high-crime neighborhoods of the state’s third-largest city.

One of those troopers got involved in a shooting today in South Dallas. Residents are calling for a thorough investigation; they deserve to know what happened and I hope DPS and Dallas PD are forthcoming. A Dallas City Council member wants DPS to pull the troopers out.

Well, count me as a Metroplex resident who endorses DPS’s presence to assist Dallas PD combat the rash of violent crimes that have struck the city.

My DPS friend told me he and his trooper colleagues work on traffic enforcement, enabling Dallas PD officers to concentrate more fully on the crime wave.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered DPS officers to assist Dallas police, expressing concern about the crime spree that has been taking far too many innocent victims’ lives. The governor should be concerned. So should the residents of those neighborhoods affected most directly by the criminals who are doing them harm.

To that end, I stand with DPS — especially my young friend — as they lend a needed hand to quell the spasm of crime that has frightened many Dallas residents.

local news

Now let’s find this youngster’s killer

January 17, 2019 kanelis2012 1 Comment

The harsh and heartbreaking truth has been revealed to a rural Texas Panhandle community.

One of its sons, Thomas Brown — missing since November 2016 — is dead. Someone found his remains near Canadian in Hemphill County. Forensics experts were able to determine the identity of those remains.

The family is grieving. As is the community that Thomas called home.

No one likely is able to dictate to the authorities on what to do next, but I am going to use this blog to make a specific request of them.

The Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers, along with Hemphill County and Canadian police must spare no effort or expense in finding out what happened to this youngster.

Thomas’s mother said all she wants are prayers. I’ll accept that, but that’s not all she needs. She and the rest of Thomas’s family need to know what happened to him. They need complete and unequivocal closure.

They never will get over this tragedy completely. They can come a good bit closer to it than they are at this moment with a thorough and intense investigation into the fate that befell the teenager.

This case is extraordinary given the amount of time Thomas was listed as “missing.” The family no doubt held out some glimmer of hope that he would return alive. I have some intimate knowledge of that, inasmuch as a close member of my family once was listed as “missing” for a mere eight days before police found his remains.

The Texas Rangers are the elite investigative arm of the DPS. These folks are very good at what they do. Whatever it takes, they need to look for as long as they have any semblance of hope of determining what happened to this young man.

Moreover, they need to determine who inflicted this terrible misery on a Texas Panhandle family and community.

local news

Now come the questions: Who did this . . . and why?

January 16, 2019 kanelis2012

A community’s heart is shattered with this news.

Remains found near Canadian, Texas have been confirmed to be those of a teenager who disappeared on Nov. 23, 2016.

They belong to Thomas Brown.

Thomas’s mother said simply, “We just need prayers.” Done. You’ll have them from a grieving Texas Panhandle that had hoped for all it could that Thomas would be found alive.

Now comes the arduous task for Hemphill County law enforcement officials, hopefully with help from the Texas Rangers and neighboring agencies. They need to find out who did this and for what purpose.

In the meantime, a shaken community will somehow seek to regain its strength.

Perhaps a region’s collective love will help it recover.

local news, Uncategorized

Terrorism begets frayed nerves

June 14, 2016 kanelis2012 1 Comment

Tragedies such as what occurred in Orlando, Fla., over the weekend have a sobering impact on all of us.

We’re all on edge. The nation has been shaken.

Then something happens closer to home — a lot closer to home, in fact — and your hair stands straight up in a manner it otherwise might not had the earlier tragedy not occurred.

This morning I was driving home from an assignment in Pampa, Texas. My phone rang; I answered it using the Bluetooth device in my truck. It’s my wife.

“Where are you?” she asked. I tell her I’m on Amarillo Boulevard about to turn south onto Loop 335.

“Don’t go near Interstate 27 and Georgia Street,” she instructed me. “The police have it blocked off. There’s a shooter.”

Holy s***!

It turns out that someone was holding someone else hostage inside the Walmart store at that intersection. Police had cordoned off the area. They were negotiating with the gunman.

I got home and watched the news. Not much time after returning home came word that law enforcement officers had shot the gunman to death. The hostage is OK.

The crisis is over. Now comes the investigation into what happened and why.

Then it occurred to me. This is what acts of terror do to people. The gunman in Orlando might have committed that horrific act for any number of reasons.

The bottom line is this: He terrorized that community and in the process put the rest of this very large and powerful nation on edge.

Suffering the symptoms of fear as a result of a terrorist act is no fun at all.

Quite obviously, I’m glad the crisis is over and that the Amarillo Police Department, the Randall County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety, which I know to be run by dedicated professionals, did their jobs.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for keeping us safe.

We all can breathe again.

State news

Susan Bland’s death cries out for explanation

July 22, 2015 kanelis2012

The circumstances surrounding the arrest of a young woman by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper have been fairly well established.

Trooper Brian Enciana pulled Susan Bland over for failure to signal a turn in her motor vehicle. She mouthed off to him. He told her 15 times to get out of her car, after telling her to put out her cigarette — which she declined to do.

He threatened to “light you up,” meaning, I guess, he would use his Taser on her. She got angrier.

Then the two of them walked out of “dashcam” range, where she allegedly kicked and elbowed the trooper.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog

Then she got tossed into the Waller County jail.

Three days later jailers found her hanging in her cell. Sandra Bland was dead.

Can there be some explanation as to why this young woman was taken into custody in the first place — in an incident that started out as a traffic stop? And what in the world happened to her in that lockup?

This young woman’s death while in police custody has created yet another national furor centering most notably on the race of the victim. As Erica Greider reports in Texas Monthly: “And so I agree with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: Bland’s family and loved ones deserve answers; since it may take some time to provide them, the search should be handled as transparently as possible, wherever it may lead.”

State news

Texas trooper goes under the glare

July 22, 2015 kanelis2012

Now this. What in the world … ?

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia pulled a young woman over for what some media actually reported was a “routine traffic stop.”

He told the young woman, Sandra Bland, to douse a cigarette. She refused. The trooper then became agitated. So did Bland. They argued. He threatened her with his Taser. She got even angrier.

The “routine stop”? Well, it became un-routine in less than two minutes.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/21/video-officer-became-enraged-bland-over-cigarette/

Bland was arrested … forcibly. She was taken to the Waller County jail. Bland then died in her cell by hanging.

And the stuff has hit the fan.

This case is looking for all the world like some other police cases involving the arrest of African-American suspects. Eric Garner was choked to death by a New York City police officer, who sought to arrest him for selling cigarettes illegally. Walter Scott was shot to death by a Charleston, S.C., police officer as he was running away from the officer. Freddie Gray died in jail from a broken neck after he was arrested in Philadelphia.

Now we have Sandra Bland arrested and rousted out of her car by a police officer. For what? Because she mouthed off?

Sure, Bland shouldn’t have sassed the trooper. But aren’t police officers taught in the academy to look past rude behavior? Aren’t they schooled on how to respond with coolness and calm?

Was the young woman drunk? No. Did she brandish a weapon? No. Was she using an illegal drug? No.

And what in the world happened in that jail cell?

Oh, my. This case is troubling in the extreme.

High Plains Blogger