By Royce West
Texas Senate

By now, sadly, most of us have sat stunned and disgusted by what happened to Tyre Nichols at the hands of those disguised as members of law enforcement. But what laws were they enforcing? Mob rule? The law of the jungle? Even the law of the jungle maintains that an animal only kills outside the grounds where it lives. What we’ve witnessed and what the Nichols and Wells family must endure, are lasting images of another inexplicable death of an unarmed Black man with no assurances that it will not happen again. But it is all our duties as citizens, as public officials and as those who truly protect and serve, to do all we can to see that it won’t.

Institutional knowledge provides perspective and hope. I say this because I remember times past when lawmakers could not conceive that there were in fact people who were wrongfully arrested, convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. But because a senate colleague of mine who was a trusted member of the majority party had the courage to speak for some who could not speak for themselves, a bill became the law that created post-conviction DNA testing. In years since, scores who were in Texas prisons were able to gain their freedom and Texas’ law became a national template.

The same year, another Texas Senate colleague of mine walked across the aisle to provide the vote to allow what would become Texas’ hate crimes law to come to the floor for debate. And in the same Legislative Session, I was able to pass the state’s first law that prohibited racial profiling by law enforcement and approved $18 million to outfit patrol cars with cameras. Before the law passed, I was called everything but a child of God. Now, officers don’t want to leave the station in a car that does not have a dashcam or without a body camera. Why, because a picture, it’s said, is worth a thousand words. From there, issues become a matter of conscience rather than fact.

In 2015, although the fight was difficult, I was able to craft and pass comprehensive statewide law on the use of body worn cameras by patrol officers. I thank Gov. Greg Abbott for the $10 million grant program he funded for the purchase of cameras and related equipment. It too became a national model. Imagine 21st policing without body cameras.

In 2017, I authored a bill to instruct citizens and law enforcement on what they could expect and how each should respond during a traffic stop. It is now part of driver instruction, school curriculum and police training. SB30 was sent across the country to lawmakers in other states who worked for passage of similar legislation. Why? Because I am tired of offering weeping mothers condolences for silenced sons.

To be clear, as a former prosecutor, I am not now and have never been anti-law enforcement. We’ve worked purposefully with any and all groups willing to come to the table to discuss these matters of policing and accountability. Thirty years ago, the thought that an officer could be indicted, tried and convicted for fatal incidents involving people of color was still far-fetched. But 60 years ago, video images of state-sponsored brutality gave Congress the conviction to pass the Civil Rights Act. Now it seems sometimes that ideology has become more imperative than preserving the rights of innocent Americans.

The officers who killed George Floyd, Walter Scott, Botham Jean and Jordan Edwards were tried and convicted. But we still have miles to go when five hiding behind a badge believe they can act with impunity, contempt and disregard for human life.

There will be bills this Session to protect the rights of the innocent, to address uses of force and law enforcement accountability. Justice demands the next step. It’s hard to deny what your eyes have seen. We should shudder to think that the next Tyre Nichols could be on his way home.

###