More Troopers, Less Surging Under GOP Border Bill
State lawmakers Monday made a bipartisan pitch for an omnibus border security bill that would speed up hiring of more Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and establish a physical repository for crime statistics on the border.
House Bill 11, by state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, contains controversial measures including reestablishing state police checkpoints on the border to check southbound travelers for contraband, and making it a crime to “encourage or induce” a person to remain in the country illegally.
The proposal would also increase a typical workday for border DPS officers from eight hours to 10 for a five-day workweek. It would allow peace officers with four years of experience to join the DPS at a Trooper II level, which pays about $63,000 annually, according to DPS figures.
Bonnen’s HB 11 would also create a “DPS Officer Reserve Corps” of retired troopers to help with things like background investigations and sex-offender compliance. It would require local law enforcement agencies to use the National Incident Based Reporting System to make crime-statistics reporting uniform statewide.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/02/texas-gop-introduces-omnibus-border-security-bill/
