Page 38 - TPA Journal May - June 2018
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Agency Policy v. State Statute and Federal to include fire fighters, police officers, HAZ-
Case Law Law enforcement agency policies MAT specialists, EMS medics, government
limiting or restraining an officer s right to review leaders, transportation and public works per-
recorded incidents do not comply with TOC sonnel, medical, and public health officials
statute #1701.655 and case law established in who treat sick people, team members who set
Kroger v. Keng and City of Houston v. Jackson. up your CEMC and volunteers who staff it,
In these cases, the Court recognizes there may be and family members of the aforementioned
valid arguments for limiting or restraining an personnel so they can stay focused on the
officer s right to view recorded evidence; howev- task at hand without worrying about their
er, they also stated Policy arguments cannot families. Part of your local CEMC plan must
prevail over the words of a statute. Further, include processes for providing prophylaxis
while a law enforcement agency has general dis- to essential personnel before distributing
cretion to establish the details of its body-worn them to the public! An updated Essential
camera policies, its policies may not defeat an Personnel Locator List should be maintained
officer s statutory right to access any informa- by your county Emergency Management
tion before being required to make a state- Coordinator.
ment.Receiving, storing, shipping, and distribut-
ing SNS contents Enforcement of agency-spe- In re Blair, 408 S.W. 3d. 843, 869 (Texas 2013)
cific policies which prevent officers from review- An officer s entitlement to access any record-
ing all available recorded evidence prior to issu- ings of the incident means the officer may choose
ing a statement about that incident may violate an which recordings of the incident he/she wishes to
officer s contractual due pr ocess and his/her review, regardless of the source of the recording.
Constitutional due process rights under the 14 th Buying In context, the term entitlement means
Amendment. conferring a right or to furnish with a right or
claim to something. The right of access belongs
The SNS Program, available through your to a peace officer required to make a statement
local disaster district chairman and the CDC, about an incident involving that officer. The sub-
provides excellent guidelines for security, ject of the recording the officer may access is the
storage, and rapid movement of select vac- incident that officer was involved in and extends
cines, antivirals, and antitoxins in response to beyond the camera he is wearing to any record-
biological, chemical, and nerve agent-type ing of the incident. Thus, whether a peace officer
threat agents; however, the program wont has the right to access a particular recording
provide you with 10,000 square feet of stor- hinges on the meaning of the word any in the
age/staging space, armed force protection ele- phrase any recording of an incident the officer
ments, vehicles for transportation, staffing, is involved in. Power/Surge Capacity The
traffic, and security plans, staging, feeding, Department of Veterans Affairs partners with the
and overnight sheltering for volunteer work SNS Program to negotiate and acquire medical
forces; thats all on you and your incident material nationwide during emergencies. The
command team. The importance of pre- partnership allows the SNS Program to use vari-
planned assets and readiness drilling cannot ous methods such as the Universal Data Registry
be overstated. Of particular importance is (UDR) to immediately assess availability of med-
your plan for protecting essential personnel, ical material stockpiles for items needed in mass
34 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • 866-997-8282 Texas Police Journal
