I can’t say that I’m surprised. Not stated in the article is to what agency heard Arredondo’s appeal. I suspect that it was the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE). TCOLE is charged with licensing police officers and the tracking, training and status of officers. Police agencies are required to report hiring and firing decisions to TCOLE. TCOLE has the authority to revoke peace officer licenses. Agencies can report whether an officer resigned in lieu of firing or indictment. Such a report would become part of the record. At least in theory.
The problem is that TCOLE is a state agency. Incompetence is not a bug but a feature for state agencies, in Texas. Years ago, I investigated a fellow narc who stole dope from our evidence locker. This was apparently in an effort to court a titty dancer and her lesbian girlfriend. I made the case and filed it in Federal Court. He went to trial and caught the chain, twelve and a half years to do in a federal joint. Two years into his sentence, TCLEOSE (the forerunner of TCOLE) accepted the voluntary surrender of his Peace Officer License.
I don’t know but I can’t imagine that the crooked cop decided on his own, to surrender his license. I suspect that TCLEOSE initiated the action (two years after the fact). In a perfect world, I also can’t imagine a regulatory agency asking an imprisoned malefactor to surrender his license.
Maybe it is just me. Anytime correspondence to a cop includes an inmate number and FCI as part of the address the pending revocation is a slam dunk. Voluntary suspension shouldn’t be an option.
There are those that may say, ‘he lost his job,’ why kick him when he’s down? The simple answer is this guy will likely be back. I predict that in the near future he will be a candidate for Constable or possibly even Sheriff.
