The Driver Responsibility Act, which levies hefty surcharges on minor offenders, has cost 1.2 million Texans their licenses, and most of the fees that were supposed to be collected have not materialized. At the direction of state lawmakers, the DPS is trying to get people to pay up and square things with the law. But critics want the program ended altogether.
Department of Public Safety
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Leaders OK Capitol Security Upgrades
The big three state leaders approved seven new security measures for the Capitol, and none of them are X-ray machines or metal detectors that the director of the top Texas police agency said are critical to keep the pink dome safe from armed intruders.
Posted in
State Government
Potties, Pickups and Preparedness
Local governments, Native American tribes and nonprofit groups in Texas hauled in more than $298 million in federal homeland security grants from 2003 through 2008 and made more than 30,000 purchases, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of a Texas Department of Public Safety database. Much of the money has gone to improve local emergency response and to beef up police and fire departments — critical safety measures that taxpayers might not have been able to afford without assistance from Washington. But it’s unclear how some of the expenditures have made the state, or the nation, more resistant to terror attacks.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Relieving Driver Debt
Today, the Texas Department of Public Safety released it’s proposed new rules that would make it easier for poor Texans with traffic tickets to get right with the law.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: DPS to Spring Breakers: Ten Cuidado
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw issued a warning today to spring breakers planning to travel to Mexican border cities like Juarez or Nuevo Laredo: Don’t.
Posted in
State Government
Rick Perry vs. the DPS
While the director of the Department of Public Safety and some state senators argue that X-ray machines and metal detectors are critical in the wake of a shooting at the Capitol, the Governor and others in the Legislature worry that a gamut of security hurdles would make the place unwelcoming to the public.
Posted in
State Government
Accidents Will Happen
State troopers turned in hundreds of error-riddled crash reports in 2007 and 2008, according to an internal audit by the Department of Public Safety.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Thevenot on the abysmally low community college graduation rate and higher ed’s coming budgetary winter. Ramshaw on Terri Hodge’s guilty plea and hasty exit. Grissom on the Department of Public Safety’s use of dreaded federal stimulus funds to plug a hole in the state’s border security budget. Hu on the first of the intraparty face-offs in our Primary Color series. Ramsey and Stiles on the congressional candidates with the most money on hand. Ramsey on whether Farouk Shami’s accent and name are an obstacle to his election. Aguilar on the fever-tick epidemic overwhelming South Texas. Rapoport on TxDOT’s hard road and the State Board of Education’s lack of finance expertise. Philpott on how Barack Obama’s budget will impact Texas. M. Smith on whether lawyers giving to judges is a good thing. Hamilton on the latest transportation innovations on the drawing board. The best of our best from February 1 to 5, 2010.
Posted in
Demographics
Department of Public Stimulus
The Department of Public Safety, which is struggling financially, is planning to use $16 million of the federal stimulus dollars that Gov. Rick Perry begrudgingly accepted to plug a hole in the border security budget. The decision follows a mandate by Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus that state agencies cut 5 percent out of their budgets to meet an anticipated shortfall.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Send a Sext, Go To Jail
Attorney General Greg Abbott has a message for young, hormonal Texans: Sending your BF or GF naughty pics over the phone could be criminal.