HonorableWallace D. Beasley
ExecutiveDirector
Texas COmmiSSiOn on Law
Enforcement Officer
standards tima Education
503-E Sam Houston Building
Austin, Texa8 70701
. Opinion No. M-966
Rer Standards of selection
aa training of Special
Dear Sir: Rangers.
'Youhave inquired of this office whether certain described
Special Rangers are peace officers and thereby subject to the
minimum standards of selection and training establishedby the
Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards,andEdu-
cation. I quote from your opinion request
*There are a number of duly authorized statewide
organizationswho have employees whose work in
specialized fields closely parallels work being
done~by officers of the Department of Public Safety
as well as,sheriffs and chiefs of police. To
promote the necessary cooperation between these
organizations aa various law enforcement officers
throughout the state, a number of such employees
have been appointed Special Rangers under the
provisions of Article 4413(U) (5) Vernon's An-
notated Civil Statutes.
Article 4413(29aa) Vernon's Annotated Civil
Statutes requires all peace officers to comply
with minimum standards of selection and training
as promulgated by the Texas Commission on Law
Enforcement Officer standards aa Education.
An opinion is requested as to whether such
described Special Rangers, when commissioned
as law enforcement officers by the Department
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Honorable Wallace D. Beasley, page 2 (M-966)
of Public Safety, are peace officers, as defined
in Article'2.12 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure,
and thereby subject to the minimum standards con-
tained in Zuticle 4413129aa)Vernon’s Annotated
Civil Statutes.'
Article 4413(U) (5) Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes
(as recently amended) provides8
"(5) Special Rangers. The Commission 'shall
have authority to appoint as Special Rangers
honorably retired commissioned officers of the
Texas Department of Public Safety, and shall, in
addition, have authority to appoint such number
of Special Rangers as may be deemed advisable,
not to exceed three hundred (300) in number8 such
rangers shall not have any connection with any
Ranger Company or uniformed unit of the Depart-
ment of Public Safety, but they shall at all
times be subject to the orders of the Commission
aa the GOVeMOr for special duty to the same
extent as the other law enforcement officers
provided for in this Act) such Special Rangers,
however, shall not have the authority to en-
force any laws except those designed to protect
life and property, and such’rengers are especi-
ally denied the authority to enforce any laws
regulating the use of the State highways by
motor truck and motor buses and other motor
vehicles. Such rangers shall not receive.any
compensation from the State for their seridces,
and before the issuance of the commission each
such ranger shall enter into a good and suf-
ficient bona executed by a Surety Company author-
ized to do business in Texas in the sum of
Twenty-five Hundred Dollars ($2,500), approved
by the'Director, indemnifyingall persons against
damages accruing as the result of any illegal
or unlawful acts on the part of such Special
Ranger. All Special Ranger Conmissions shall
expire on January 1st of the odd year after ap-
pointment, and the Director can revoke any
Special Ranger Commission at any time for'cause,
and such officer shall be designated in the
Commission as Special Ranger."
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. . -
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HonorableWallace D. Beasley, page 3 (M-966)
Article 2.12 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure (as amended
in 1967) provides in pertinent part:
'The following are peace officers: . . . rangers
and officers commissioned by the Public Safety
Commission and the Director of the Department of
Public Safety . . . ana any private person speci-
ally appointed to execute criminal process..
The persons you have described are rangers and are there-
fore peace officers, even though they be full time employees
of the various organizations indicated.
Article 4413(29aa)6ib),Vernon's Annotated &,vil Statutes,
provides in pertinent part:
*No person after September 1, 1970 shall be
appointed aa a peace officer . . . unless such
person has satisfactorilycompleted a preparatory
program of training in law enforcement at a
school approved or operated by the Commission.8
We find no authorized statutory exception to the foregoing
insofar as the special rangers you have described are concerned.
It is therefore the opinion of this office that persons em-
ployed by the statewide organizations to conduct investigative
work, but who are appointed special rangers, must meet the legal
minimum standards of,selection aa training.
SUMMARY
----m-w
Employees of statewide organizations who have
been appointed special rangers by the Public
Safety Commission to promote cooperation between
their offices and the various law enforcement
offices throughout the state, are peace officers
and must comply with established minimum stand-
ards of selection and training, as established
by the Texas Connnissionon Law Enforcement
Officer Standards and Education.
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. . . r.
Honorable Wallace D. Beasley, page 4 (M-966)
Prepared by Howard M. Fender
Assistant Attorney General
Kerns Taylor, Chairman
W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman
W. Barton Baling
Bob Lattimore
Bill Craig
Ken Nordquist
SAM MCDANIEL
Acting Staff Legal Assistant
ALFRED WALmR
Executive Assistant
NOLA WRITE
First Assistant
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