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City of Rowlett Mislead by TCOLE about Properly Certified Peace Officers?

City of Rowlett Mislead by TCOLE about Properly Certified Peace Officers?

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UPDATE, on November 17, 2020, we were provided confirmation from TCOLE that Dallas Security Force was an approved school, as of August 3, 1983. There are many who attended before its approval. The story still has valid components. It is upon the government to provide truthful information within Open Records requests.

Is it possible people within the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) have mislead departments related to the proper qualifications of the officers the departments employ?

We believe this to be the case; especially, after finding conflicting information being provided to the Executive Director of TCOLE from his Subject Matter Experts (SME).

Here is what we know and we know this because we know oversight and compliance. Most executives are not aware of the daily operations below them. They rely upon outcomes and reporting. The reporting is only as good as the work provided to generate the report. What if the report was skewed because SMEs may not be SMEs or they are involved in a matter to cover up things they may have done? What if that was the advice you were receiving from your SMEs as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO)?

We can all question the response of the CEO, but does that change the outcome? We have done this type of work long enough, to speak as an expert to this theme. Yes, CEO’s are lied too and they take the information at the word given, because they do not view the world as jaded, but proper compliance and oversight eliminates those bad words. Hence what we do is the bread and butter of authentic reporting and validation to CEOs.

Everyone wonders why compliance and oversight is needed, this is a prime example throughout organizations, as to why. A CEO has so much to focus on, they cannot validate everything said to them, they have to rely on it at face value and people are generally honest, but there is always a need to validate. This is something we see TCOLE lacks. Maybe the resolution is as simple as a Texas State Auditor’s Office review and recommendation of a compliance official to conduct oversight activities to the CEO, similar to the high risk healthcare world.

In the interim to any resolution, lets talk about our findings. Here is what we know:

  • Rowlett has at least three active employees claiming to be peace officers and certified by Dallas Security Force or DALLAS LOVE FIELD, from the 1980’s
  • TCOLE has confirmed neither is an approved academy.
  • Legislature since the 1907’s required an approved school for licensure in order to be granted a peace officer certification.
  • Open Records from Rowlett has confirmed the officers in our review do not possess a basic peace officer certificate, but have intermediate and above in their files.

Here is what we suspect:

  • TCOLE would not correct the issue because someone or some people in TCOLE are already aware of the issue, as they may be suspected culprits (otherwise, why not resolve it?).
  • Rowlett does not know what to do, because TCOLE is the oversight body and it is not performing its duties as required by legislation.
  • We believe those from DALLAS LOVE FIELD knew they were not properly certified and applied to Rowlett in the 1980s because of location and distance from populated areas, as an attempt to secure peace officer employment.
  • There is a bigger issue with data integrity at TCOLE as a lot of the personal service records (PSR) list “test,” where an approved institution should be listed.

Here is the proof (in providing this proof we want to credit the City of Rowlett and TCOLE for being transparent in records requests through the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA)):

Texas Legislature (1970s)
TCOLE TPIA, No Record of an Academy
TCOLE TPIA, never an academy

Click the link below to see the complete roster from TCOLE for those employed at DALLAS LOVE FIELD:

DALLAS LOVE FIELD PSR’s

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