Travis County DA Issues Police Oversight 'White Paper'

AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County district attorney on Wednesday released a "White Paper" detailing the purpose of the Civil Rights Unit aimed at police oversight.

District Attorney Margaret Moore created the unit upon taking office in 2017 to "promote transparency and fairness for cases involving the unlawful use of force by police officers," she wrote in an advisory.

“Before the Civil Rights Unit was created, cases involving a complaint against police officers were handled behind closed doors," Moore added in a prepared statement. "I created this unit in order to ensure accountability through thorough investigations, maximum transparency, and impeccable fairness.”

She added the unit was developed after months of input from community stakeholders, making it unique to Travis County. The unit is independent within the district attorney's office, handling only the investigation and prosecution of allegations of criminal conduct involving an officer’s injury or harm to a member of the public while they are on duty, Moore explained.

Matters under the unit's purview include incidents such as an officer’s use of deadly force, use of non-deadly force, death while in custody or sexual misconduct or assault, according to the advisory. Over the last three years, Moore said, the Civil Rights Unit has:

• Shared its entire investigative file with surviving family members and/or representatives so that they may be given timely and complete access to the facts and circumstances surrounding an incident, which has provided them more information than they were ever given before.
• Published declination letters when the case is not presented to a grand jury, setting out a thorough description of the facts and the law and explaining why the evidence did not meet the standard of sustaining a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. These letters are accessible to the public on the Travis County District Attorney’s website, which gives the community more information about these cases than ever before.
• Presented cases to special grand juries called by a criminal district court judge specifically to hear officer-involved cases, ensuring a thorough and unbiased examination.
• Made regular reports of its work to Moore’s Civil Rights Advisory Committee, comprising a broad representation of community leaders, who contribute criticism and suggestions to the CRU.

“The work of the CRU, in conjunction with the City of Austin’s Office of Police Oversight, is a critical component of our police oversight process," Ashton Cumberbatch, Jr., a member of the Civil Rights Advisory Committee and former Austin Police Monitor, said in a prepared statement. "The unit’s specialized staff of investigators and prosecutors focused on deadly-force and abuse-of-force incidents, along with a special grand jury to review only allegations of criminal conduct by law enforcement personnel, has increased the transparency regarding law enforcement practices and policies and improved the accountability of officers. And these are indispensable elements if we are ever going to have an atmosphere of earned trust between the Central Texas community — particularly our Latinx and Black community members — and law enforcement.”

Added Moore: “For more than a decade before I took office, there was only one indictment returned charging a police officer with a crime, and there were no trials. We developed our Civil Rights Unit to change that. In my three and a half years, we’ve returned 21 indictments and tried two jury trials involving three peace officers. This is progress, but there is much more to do. I hope to have four more years to continue this vitally important work.”Find more information about the Civil Rights Unit.

Moore's advisory on the CRU creation was issued as part of her reelection campaign rather than her official office. Media members with additional questions on the unit were referred to her campaign manager.