Jailers group pushing for standards, licenses
09:19 PM CDT on Friday, April 18, 2008

By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News

MESQUITE � Almost anyone can be a jailer in a city jail in Texas. State law sets no standards, provides no licensing, and requires no training or proof of competence for the job.

But the six-year-old Municipal Jailers Association of Texas � which held its annual conference here this week � wants to change all that.

The state occupation code provides for certificates for peace officers, dispatchers and county jail personnel, but not for city jailers.

The association hopes to find sponsors in the 2009 session of the state Legislature for an amendment to the occupation code that would add city jailers to the list of criminal justice professionals that are tested, certified and monitored by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education.


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