LAWMAKER AIMS TO CHANGE OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING REPORTS

  

Texas law enforcement agencies could soon find it easier to report officer-involved shootings, while also paying a price if they fail to do so.

Texas is one of seven states that requires law enforcement agencies to provide information about officer-involved shootings to the state, and it could become the first to punish those that don’t report the shootings.

State Rep. Eric Johnson (D-Dallas) has introduced a bill that would make it so any Texas law enforcement agency that fails to submit a report would be ineligible to receive criminal justice grant money from the governor’s office for a year.

In 2015 and 2016, the governor’s office provided more than $52 million in grants to law enforcement agencies for things such as body cameras and training.

Johnson is also trying to create a web portal that could make it easier for law enforcement to report crime data, including officer–involved shootings.

Currently, agencies email their reports to the attorney general’s office and that office posts them online as PDFs. Johnson says the reports are not user-friendly and aren’t part of a searchable database. He says his proposed website could be more easily accessed by the public.