dps

DPS, private contractors, and the Great Public Relations Emergency of 2010

Scott Henson
March 16, 2012 19:11

The Austin Statesman followed up on Tom Barry's piece at Alternet, discussed here, to provide more detail on the outsourcing of Texas border security to a private contractor called Abrams Learning and Information Systems Inc. (ALIS). Particularly fascinating in reporter Jeremy Schwartz's account...

DPS outsourced key border security tasks to shadowy private contractor

Scott Henson
March 16, 2012 11:46

Here's a story that should have been broken by a Texas publication, but credit must instead go to Tom Barry at Alternet for a remarkable piece of reporting titled "Who Is Securing the Texas Border? How Private Contractors Mislead the Public, Then Get Rich Off Taxpayer Money."Since 2006 many of the...

Montgomery Sheriff crashes drone into SWAT vehicle

Scott Henson
March 06, 2012 22:11

One of the first civilian law enforcement agencies in the country to purchase an aerial surveillance drones last fall, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office yesterday crashed a drone into one of its SWAT team's armored personnel carriers during a practice run. (Please let there be video!) Further,...

Despite two years to plan, DPS won't yet process surcharge waivers for indigent defendants

Scott Henson
October 18, 2011 11:27

Despite having two years to plan for the statutory September 1 implementation date, the Texas Department of Public Safety is not yet prepared to implement a mandated system for indigent defendants to have their Driver Responsibility Surcharges waived, I'm told by officials at DPS. Although the law...

'Rick Perry's Intelligence Overreach'

Scott Henson
October 03, 2011 14:19

A reporter from Mother Jones contacted Grits recently with questions about Governor Perry's record on the TDEX database, which is Texas' homegrown version of the nixed "Total Information Awareness" initiative promoted by Adm. John Poindexter during the Bush II Administration. The resulting story,...