88R4249 JCG-D
By: Creighton S.B. No. 1484
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a border operations training program for peace officers
employed by local law enforcement agencies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 411.02093 to read as follows:
Sec. 411.02093. BORDER OPERATIONS TRAINING PROGRAM. (a)
The department, in coordination with local law enforcement
agencies, shall establish and administer a border operations
training program for peace officers employed by local law
enforcement agencies that will prepare the officers to:
(1) collaborate and cooperate with and assist any law
enforcement agency in the interdiction, investigation, and
prosecution of criminal activity in the Texas-Mexico border region;
and
(2) collaborate and cooperate with and assist district
attorneys, county attorneys, the border prosecution unit, and other
prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of allegations of
criminal activity in the Texas-Mexico border region.
(b) The training program under Subsection (a) must include:
(1) information on:
(A) criminal activity occurring along the
Texas-Mexico border, including drug trafficking and trafficking of
persons and other activity carried out by cartels, transnational
gangs, and other groups engaged in organized criminal activity; and
(B) methods for identifying northbound,
southbound, and intrastate criminal activity associated with drug
trafficking, trafficking of persons, and other organized criminal
activity;
(2) best practices for investigating and prosecuting
the criminal activity described by Subdivision (1) and securing the
Texas-Mexico border; and
(3) an overview of the department's operations at the
Texas-Mexico border, including any collaboration with the United
States Customs and Border Protection.
(c) The department shall identify opportunities for a peace
officer described by Subsection (a) to assist in the department's
duties related to border operations. The department may authorize
the officer to assist in carrying out those duties.
(d) A peace officer authorized by the department to assist
in carrying out duties related to the department's border
operations as described by Subsection (c) is not entitled to
compensation from the department for the assistance provided.
(e) The department may partner with federal agencies in
administering the training program under Subsection (a) and
facilitating any assistance provided by a peace officer under
Subsection (c).
SECTION 2. Subchapter H, Chapter 1701, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 1701.359 to read as follows:
Sec. 1701.359. BORDER OPERATIONS TRAINING PROGRAM. The
commission may:
(1) recognize, or with the consent of the Department
of Public Safety administer or assist in administering, the border
operations training program established under Section 411.02093,
Government Code, as a continuing education program for officers;
and
(2) credit an officer who successfully completes the
program described by Subdivision (1) with the appropriate number of
continuing education hours.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.