Texas DPS State Troopers Are "Crazy"

[SF-TX]

As long as we continue to ignore the problem, it will only get crazier.

On the border, hot pursuits are all too common
Fleeing smugglers keep DPS troopers busy in Hidalgo County
By JOHN TEDESCO and BRANDI GRISSOM
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS and TEXAS TRIBUNE
Nov. 21, 2010, 10:27AM


McALLEN — On a quiet November morning, trooper Johnny Hernandez patrols the dusty back roads along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County. In the back seat, his M4 rifle sits within arm's reach. In the trunk, he stores a bulletproof vest.

The 15-year Department of Public Safety veteran has been in so many high-speed pursuits that he can't remember the first one, and, to be honest, he says he doesn't even think of them in terms of which one is scariest.

"There's just so much" going on, he says. "Your thoughts are going 100 miles per hour."

Often, so is his car.

Hernandez is one of about 60 DPS troopers on the Texas-Mexico border in Hidalgo County, who together over the last five years have logged far more high-speed chases than officers in any other region of the state.

The Texas Tribune and the San Antonio Express-News analyzed data from nearly 5,000 DPS pursuit reports from January 2005 through July 2010. Nearly 13 percent of all the chases — 656 — happened in Hidalgo County. Of the 10 counties with the most chases, five were counties along the Texas-Mexico border.

For troopers who spend their days and nights patrolling the interstates, highways and meandering caliche roads of South Texas, the reason is simple. "We're the first line of defense out here," Hernandez said. "We're going to have pursuits."

DPS troopers say smugglers are becoming more active and brazen, taking desperate measures to avoid being caught. The database also reveals that troopers use aggressive pursuit tactics — including firing guns and setting up roadblocks — that many other law enforcement agencies prohibit. One expert said that DPS policies allow troopers to take too many risks, endangering the lives of officers and bystanders.

"They're crazy," said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina who has studied pursuits at police departments across the country.

DPS officials and troopers say their training has improved in recent years, and that safety is always their top priority.

"We've got families, too, and we want to go home to them," said Trooper Hernandez.

Statewide, DPS chases resulted in 1,300 accidents, 780 injuries to troopers, other officers, suspects and bystanders, 28 deaths and an estimated $8.4 million in property damage in the last five years. In Hidalgo County, the chases caused 71 injuries, two deaths and more than $440,000 in property damage.

The pursuits didn't always end with fleeing motorists winding up in handcuffs. The suspects in about 40 percent of chases in Hidalgo County escaped on foot — or swam away to Mexico — eluding officers and often leaving behind loads of marijuana and narcotics in vehicles mangled in accidents and sometimes submerged in the Rio Grande.
New tactics

Troopers say smugglers are constantly developing new tactics to avoid arrest and get the drugs or humans they are hauling into Texas.

In the last year, smugglers started using homemade spikes to blow out tires on patrol vehicles. They toss out bags full of nails welded together in a triangular shape so that, however they land, they will puncture the tires.

"I've been doing this 23 years, and it still scares me," Sgt. James Davidson said of the pursuits. Davidson has been the lead officer on at least five chases in the last five years. The smugglers, he said, also take advantage of dirt roads in rural areas to kick up dust, reduce visibility and elude officers.

Troopers say the primary reason there are more pursuits on the border is that smugglers are increasing activity and becoming more brazen. But it's also true that DPS presence has increased. Since 2006, DPS has assigned more than 160 additional troopers to the Texas-Mexico border.

Since 2007, lawmakers in Austin have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to beef up border security, including hiring more state troopers to patrol the region. About a decade ago just 20 highway patrol officers worked in Hidalgo County, said Lt. Armando Garza, who supervises patrol there. Now there are three times as many.
Much leeway

DPS policies, though, allow troopers to engage in riskier chase tactics than several other large Texas police and sheriffs' departments. Troopers can set up rolling and stationary roadblocks to end a chase, a strategy they used 68 times from 2005 to 2009.

Troopers also can shoot out a suspect's tires if other methods, such as deploying spike strips, fail to stop the pursuit. Troopers fired their guns during chases nearly 90 times over the last five years, and 14 of those incidents occurred in urban areas.

By contrast, the San Antonio, Fort Worth and Austin police departments and the Harris County Sheriff's Office prohibit officers from using their firearms during a pursuit except in self-defense or to defend others, and they are not allowed to set up roadblocks to stop a chase.

The Houston Police Department prohibits gunfire during pursuits, but in some cases allows roadblocks. The policy at the Bexar County Sheriff's Office says deputies can use their guns only as a last resort and in some cases can use roadblocks.

DPS' policy gives troopers much leeway in deciding when to pursue and how to end the chase, but in 2007 the department acknowledged it needed to do a better job giving officers hands-on training after crashes involving troopers increased by 30 percent.

"We fall short in providing the necessary practical driver training to our officers," stated a February 2007 newsletter published by DPS' public information office.

At the time, troopers practiced their driving skills at a parking lot around a football field in Austin.

Since then, DPS received money to build a modern training course, where more than 880 officers have trained since June 2009.

Link

[Buffalobob]

Anybody seen a dark green 1968 Mustang fastback chasing a black Charger R/T?

[Richard]

Anybody seen a dark green 1968 Mustang fastback chasing a black Charger R/T?

About four times a year when I watch my DVD of it - similar to my watching my DVD of John Wayne standing on the beach watching the sun set in RVN.

Richard

[Buffalobob]

I gonna make a note to not play Trivial Pursuit with you for money.

[akv]

Originally Posted by Buffalobob

Anybody seen a dark green 1968 Mustang fastback chasing a black Charger R/T?

FWIW Enrico's still serves a mean ravioli...

[dr. mabuse]

*

[rdret1]

Dr. Alpert from USC may have studied pursuits all over the country, but he has obviously never spent any real time in Texas or the border country. Like my wife said the first time I took her there "you can see forever!"

[Utah Bob]

"We fall short in providing the necessary practical driver training to our officers," stated a February 2007 newsletter published by DPS' public information office.

And that is simply inexcusable and leaves DPS way behind other agencies and sitting there with their cojones awaiting to be stomped in a huge lawsuit. I can't believe they aren't providing all the training, documentation and policies necessary to keep their asses covered.

Or maybe I can.