Texas police agencies will soon have to notify the attorney general every time an officer shoots someone or gets shot.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed into law the bill by Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, that will make the attorney general a clearinghouse for police shooting data. The House and Senate each passed the measure unanimously.
The bill is based partly on an effort by the Dallas Police Department, which began posting 12 years of data online last year just as outcries about lack of information on shootings began to rise after a controversial shooting in Ferguson, Mo.
Police will begin to report the data to the state on Sept. 1.
Johnson lauded the bill as historic and said the data will be useful to academics, policymakers and the public.
"This bill makes us No. 1 in the nation," he said. "With this law, we'll have a reporting system that has got to be the envy of the country."
The date and location of the shooting; the age, gender, race and ethnicity of the person shot and officers who fired; whether the person shot had a weapon; the reason officers encountered the person; and how many officers were present.
Shoot-and-miss incidents; officers' or suspects' names; officers' tenure with their department; and the number of shots fired.
Police have 30 days to report the data, and the attorney general has five days to put it online. The attorney general also must compile an annual report on the incidents for the state and public by Feb. 1.
(c)2015 The Dallas Morning News