Texas law enforcement officials destroy records relating to search for Killer D’s

I really wasn’t going to write any more posts about the Killer D’s in Texas. As much as I found the whole thing fascinating, I was prepared to move on now that the ordeal is over and the Dems are back at work in Austin.

But it turns out there’s still plenty to talk about.

Texas’ Department of Public Safety (DPS), which was ordered to track down and arrest the Dem lawmakers who skipped town last week, has destroyed all records and photos gathered during the agency’s search.

On May 14, the day before the Dems ended their boycott of the Legislature, a one-sentence email was sent by the commander of the DPS Special Crimes Service to law enforcement captains that said, “Any notes, correspondence, photos, etc. that were obtained pursuant to the absconded House of Representative members shall be destroyed immediately. No copies are to be kept. Any questions please contact me.”

Federal authorities are already investigating how and why Homeland Security officials got involved in the hunt for the Killer D’s. The fact that the DPS destroyed materials that are of central significance to this investigation is extremely serious and suggests a mismanaged and overzealous search for “missing” lawmakers may have been even worse than previously thought.

State Rep. Kevin Bailey (D), chairman of the House General Investigating Committee and one of the Killer D’s, said the destruction of these public records “probably is a crime.”

No one yet knows the circumstances that led to the order to destroy the records. House Speaker Tom Craddick (R) was responsible for ordering the DPS to track down the Dems, but the DPS said yesterday that it could not say who, if anyone, gave the DPS the order to destroy the records and photographs.

The DPS did acknowledge that the records, sought by multiple parties through the Texas Open Records Act, have indeed been destroyed.

Rest assured, this controversy isn’t going away anytime soon. If anything, the destruction of public safety public records will make angry Texas Dems even more emboldened to launch aggressive investigations, and possibly call for criminal prosecutions.