Texas Bill Aims to Shield Police Misconduct Files from Public

A bill under consideration by Texas lawmakers would require city police departments and county sheriff offices across the state – including in Austin-area suburbs like Round Rock, Georgetown and Pflugerville – to withhold records related to certain internal misconduct investigations from the general public and outside government agencies.

Senate Bill 14, authored by Sen. Phil King, would require all law enforcement agencies in Texas to maintain a confidential collection of personnel records – colloquially known as a “G file” – related to internal misconduct investigations that didn’t result in disciplinary action and other sensitive matters including background checks conducted during the hiring process.

King, who did not respond to requests for comment, filed identical legislation earlier this year during the regular legislative session but the measure failed to pass before sine die in mid-May. But Gov. Greg Abbott included the issue in a jam-packed special session agenda.

Bill proponents, including law enforcement groups, argue the public shouldn’t have access to records related to internal investigations that find an officer didn’t violate department policy while opponents say the public has the right to know why an agency reached that conclusion.

Proponents also have complained about inconsistent G file practices across the state.

Currently, only cities that have opted into civil service rules for officers – Austin, Houston and San Antonio among them – can keep a G file. But other state, municipal and county law enforcement agencies, cannot.

"We want officers around the state to have the same protections that the 25,000 who work in civil service cities currently have," said Jennifer Szymanski, deputy executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the statewide police union.

King, a Republican from Weatherford, told his Senate colleagues in May that he filed the legislation because the state agency that develops training and standards for law enforcement personnel in Texas, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, had recommended lawmakers standardize how law enforcement agencies across the state maintain personnel records.

"If an officer is accused of whatever and they are disciplined, then the disciplinary info is available to the general public," King said from the Senate floor. "But if they are exonerated [investigative information] would not be available to the general public."

In Austin, the Police Department’s G file became the subject of intense scrutiny among local police reform activists in 2023, culminating in an effective ban on the confidential file in both a voter-approved measure known as the Austin Police Oversight Act and the latest police union contract. But King’s bill would impact small and mid-size law enforcement agencies in the greater Austin area, including the Travis County sheriff’s office.

The bill is especially concerning to residents in suburbs like Pflugerville where police departments don’t currently maintain a G file, said Meme Styles, who leads the data-driven advocacy organization Measure. In May, Pflugerville Police Chief Jason O'Malley resigned while under administrative investigation.

If SB 14 becomes law, all records relating to the investigation into O’Malley would become permanently sealed, Styles said, because if a law enforcement officer resigns while under investigation, the investigative records automatically become confidential G-file material.

"That’s dangerous and it would deny our community an opportunity to even ask what went wrong," Styles said.

To date, the Pflugerville Police Department has not released any details about the investigation. Spokesperson Robert Heaney said the department doesn't comment on active investigations but confirmed the probe is still ongoing.

Kathy Mitchell, a political organizer who helped write Austin’s oversight act and testified against the bill during the regular session, said she worries the legislation would hamper investigations into allegations made against detention officers at county jails throughout the state. As drafted, the bill allows outside investigators looking into jail deaths to access records stored within the department file, as required by the Sandra Bland Act. Prosecutors and defense attorneys seeking the records in connection with a criminal case can also request them via subpoena.

But Mitchell said the bill would block the Texas Commission on Jail Standards from accessing records within the file. Those records could be useful if the commission is investigating a jail for repeated mistreatment of inmates, Mitchell said, because they could review detention officers’ files for a pattern of misconduct.

Szymanski noted that lawmakers passed a bill in 2023 that required law enforcement agencies to adopt policies requiring more rigorous internal investigation of alleged misconduct committed by officers, which she said created "checks and balances" surrounding investigations into officer misconduct.

But many police departments in the state, including Austin, have faced accusations of lackluster internal investigations and lax discipline that lets officers off the hook with little accountability.

A 2023 third party review of complaints investigated by the Austin Police Department’s Internal Affairs Divisions highlighted issues with how investigators reviewed credible allegations of racial profiling, an insufficient process for scrutinizing officers who were repeatedly investigated for similar complaints and a policy that allows the department to close a misconduct investigation if the subject officer resigns before its conclusion.

"This idea that law enforcement agencies should get to investigate themselves and then decide what information is made public is deeply in conflict with other parts of state law that allow outside investigations of governmental bodies," said Kathy Mitchell, a political organizer who helped write the oversight act and testified against the bill during the regular session.