Your sworn officers on duty

Those Austin police officers disciplined for fishing while on "homeland security" duty all had expired fishing licenses, although most had bought them in the past. K. says there'd be some doubt in any event whetner a license would be needed to fish on private property (well; make that public property, a water-treatment plant, not open to the general public). According to Sam and Bob, one of our local TV stations caught footage of a DPS officer watching a DVD in an official vehicle while on "homeland security" duty "guarding" the Capitol grounds. Others have reported sleeping on duty, which we've observed ourselves on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The old ParKings saw everything (see entry for October 25). Then there are tax dollars at work escorting a movie shoot on a public street where there's never any traffic enforcement. Even if the four motorcycle cops and two patrol cars (and perhaps more of each) were being retained privately on their off-duty time, they were still in uniform and still using taxpayer-furnished vehicles "to serve and protect."