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Article Evaluation - Texas Ranger Division

Evaluating Content Overall the article is well written and has a good flow of information. The section regarding "Pop Culture" seems to be thrown together with quick bullets on different media with representation of the Rangers contained within the episode. Very little detail has been added to this section. While the section of "High Profile Cases" lists several important cases involving the Rangers, it does not contain anything recent. The most recent case posted is from the 60s and solved in 2017. The case of the "Railway Killer", Angel Maturino Resendiz arrested in July 1999 was solved be Texas Ranger Sgt Drew Carter and should be added. The Rangers were also involved in the Brach Davidian shootout in Waco, but there is nothing posted in the article involving their presence. The section about the "Hall of Fame Museum" is also lacking information. Listed is a one sentence piece lacking any detail of the museum itself.

Evaluating Tone When discussing law enforcement the information is usually posted as positive or negative, but the information inside this article does a good job of maintaining neutraility especially inside its "History" and "High Profile Cases" sections.

Evaluating Sources I tried several of the citations of this article and each worked and contained acurate information inside the article. There is a reference to Stephen F. Austin in the first sentence of the "History" section that considers Austin as the "Father of Texas" but lacks any citations to support the title. The "Pop Culture" section is missing quite a bit of citations for the blurbs posted. This section needs a lot of research in order to make it credible for the article or needs to be removed due to the lack of supporting information.

Checking Talk Page The article was demoted from Featured Article on April 17, 2010 but is listed as High-importance on the Wikipedia scale of importance and is listed as C-Class on the quality scale. There are several discussion on the historical phrase of "One Riot, One Ranger" and its validity. Overall the Talk Page is quite large with several posting their recommendations of information to be added to the article.

Texas Department of Public Safety - History On August 10, 1935 the formation of the Department of Public Safety along with 103 other bills were created by the Texas Legislature. The newly formed department was the new home for the Texas Rangers, The Highway Patrol, and crime laboratory.

Texas Highway Patrol- Removed "Troopers also conduct driving tests in the issuance of drivers licenses." as Troopers no longer conduct the tests. Civilians assigned to the office conduct the ride-alongs now.

Texas Department of Public Safety - History

Due to increased traffic and the incremental damages caused by large trucks on the narrow state roads, the License and Weight Division was formed in March of 1927. These new inspectors, the State Police, working from motorcycles would enforce motor vehicle laws and regulations. TheTexas Rangers would continue to conduct the State's law enforcement investigations.

As a result of higher crime rates, the Texas Legislature in 1931 enrolled Griffenhagen and Associates to conduct a study on the effectiveness of their law enforcement program. The firm concluded the great expanse of Texas was too much for the Rangers or the License and Weight Division to handle appropriately. The fact that the State Highway Patrol did not enforce felony charges gave too much responsibility to the Rangers, who were already overworked. The report also was negative toward Texas utilizing the National Guard for law enforcement along the border. Recommendations were made to accumulate the necessary finances to create a state law enforcement agency. Four bureaus, Administration, State Police, Rangers, and Fire Prevention were suggested to be created with the implementation of the new force.

Not completely satisfied with the report, the Texas Senate created a committee to conduct its own survey of the State’s law enforcement. As a result of the committee findings, on January 24, 1935 Senate Bill 146 was introduced. The bill created a Department of Public Safety housing the Rangers and the State Highway Patrol under one umbrella organization. The bill received final approval on February 18, 1935 and was sent to the House before finally ending up in a joint committee for final revisions. On May 3, 1935 the final bill was voted on and passed, but without two-thirds approval.

On August 10, 1935 the formation of the Department of Public Safety along with 103 other bills were created by the Texas Legislature. The newly formed department was the new home for the Texas Rangers, The Highway Patrol, and crime laboratory. 

While Governor James V. Allred signed Senate Bill 146 which created the DPS, it was the Legislature's responsibility of selecting three civilians as the Public Safety Commission. Selected were George W. Cottingham, Ernest R. Goens, and Albert Sidney Johnson. They in turn appointed Captain L.G. Phares as acting director and Homer Garrison Jr. as assistant director of the new agency. Phares was replaced by Colonel Horace H. Carmichael, who served until his death on September 24, 1938. Homer Garrison Jr. became the third director on September 27, 1938 and continued on as director for nearly 30 years until his death on May 7, 1968. Garrison made numerous improvements to the deparment during his storied career along with enhancing the training curriculum which was recognized by J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

References

Peer Evaluations - completed October 28, 2018 @ 18:05

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