Texas launches online tool allowing citizens to look up officer licenses

By Joanna Putman
Police1

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) has launched an online license lookup tool that allows the public to search and view the status of current and former licensed Texas police officers, KXAN reported.

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Joanna Putman

Previously, obtaining these records required submitting an official request under the Texas Public Information Act, according to the report.

“Transparency in government is a cornerstone of public trust,” said TCOLE Executive Director Greg Stevens in a news release. “The Public License Lookup is an important way that TCOLE can support that transparency and is directly in line with our mission to ensure that Texans are served by highly trained and ethical law enforcement personnel.”

The license lookup tool, which requires a simple registration, provides access to information such as records of training, license issue dates, training compliance and education, according to the report. TCOLE emphasized that no private or personally identifying information is available in the database, and measures have been taken to ensure that records of undercover officers are not displayed.