Official Oppression

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Mon, 22 Apr 2024 11:13:30 -0400

This is interesting. The State of Texas has a state law called "Official Oppression" which criminalizes abuse of power by government officials, especially in regards to violating people's rights. It carries a fine and jailtime.

#^https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.39.htm

I learned about the law after hearing about a case against a police officer, who is charged with "official oppression" for alleged assault against a citizen, which arguably led to his death.

Bad Cop Gets ARRESTED After INSANE Stop! by Audit the Audit
#^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQAK_1SabM
Note: Witnessing the abuse of power by the cop and the following coverup may upset you.

I am upset that additional charges have not been filed against the officer and his supervisors for the coverup. but at least the officer who allegedly assaulted the citizen has been charged with official oppression in this case.

Unrelated to that, they also changed the law so that the police cannot investigate themselves regarding a police-involved shooting or allegations of corruption. The Texas Rangers (our version of the state bureau of investigation) is tasked with investigating these things.

I am sure other states are taking similar actions, but is is nice to see the state criminalizes this behavior. Hopefully this statute will get used more when officers abuse their power.

Ideally, good officers need to get rid of the corrupt and dangerous officers themselves by reporting bad behavior. But at least we are starting to transfer oversight to outside of the department. We need more of that, in my opinion.

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Tejan Ausland

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:43:19 -0400

Qualified immunity only prevents civilians from suing the police. In this case, the government is the one charging the officer with a crime, and there is no immunity for government criminal charges.

The bigger question is this: will prosecutors charge officers with this crime?

Marshall Sutherland

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:58:21 -0400

Interesting!

Tejan Ausland

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:41:41 -0400

Most states have some sort of abuse of power or corruption statues on the books, but I was surprised that there is specifically an offense called "official oppression." This would be the first time I've heard a government admit, on record, that violating someone's rights is, in fact, oppression.