Midland Reporter-Telegram's Bob Campbell reports that Judge Robin Darr appointed Brazos County District Attorney Bill Turner to "evaluate the evidence" about Midland County Constable Charles C. (Choc) Harris.
Further:
"It has to do with certification documents submitted to our office regarding appointment records," said [TCLEOSE investigator] Englert.
and
Harris last December had appointed two reserve deputy constables, Paul Paget and Mat McClure, telling Midland County commissioners that both men were certified peace officers and that he and other constables are overworked.
Mr. Campbell is leading us to presume there may have been something improper about one or more of the two reserve deputies' credentials.
A couple of years ago I obtained a copy of Choc Harris' public info page -- see below -- and at that time the TCLEOSE Open Records office had a hard working woman employed there who would reply to email requests within about an hour. But, she doesn't seem to be there anymore. So my request today may get the full ten day Open Records treatment.
Before we leave this, let's look at one more thing from Bob Campbell's report:
A TCLEOSE spokeswoman said in April that her agency's records showed Harris had earned 3,720 hours of education and 2,833 hours of training at Sam Houston State, LaSalle University and other schools during his career as constable and as a deputy here and in Pecos, Martin, Cochran and Henderson counties. ...
Well, Mr. Harris' TCLEOSE public info as of 2008 said he had 3,720 hours of education, so that number hasn't changed. However, the 2008 TCLEOSE page made no mention of LaSalle University where Mr. Harris claimed to have earned a PHD. See Choc Harris is in the news again about that. Surely Mr. Campbell didn't just pull it off of Mr. Harris' web page and attribute it to the TCLEOSE spokeswoman.
Updated 6/11/10: Good news for records junkies. In spite of a change of personnel in the TCLEOSE Public Information Office, they are still making prompt replies. My request yesterday for Mr. Harris' information page was answered this morning.
About Mr. Harris, note this ominous paragraph from the cover email:
TCLEOSE records show that no disciplinary actions of suspension or revocation have been taken on this officer’s license; however, there is a pending complaint for criminal misconduct and his license is subject to action.
Emphasis mine. If you want to see Mr. Harris' current TCLEOSE information page in PDF, Download CHARLES C. HARRIS 70727 . The educational portion doesn't appear to have changed since 2008, however the training hours have increased.
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