AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF) – Leaders in Austin, and across the state of Texas, continue to react to this week’s release of an interim House investigative report on the elementary school massacre in Uvalde that left 19 students and two teachers dead.
Governor Greg Abbott thanked House Speaker Dade Phelan and the Texas House for their investigation and for sharing a detailed account directly with the victims’ families and the Uvalde community.
“The findings in their investigative report are beyond disturbing and raise serious concerns about the response that day,” said Governor Abbott. “There are critical changes needed as a result of the Texas House’s findings.”
With multiple investigations still ongoing, including those by the Texas Senate, FBI, and Texas Rangers, Abbott said the state will begin working with the legislature to develop and implement the necessary changes to improve public safety, school safety, and mental health assessment and treatment.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation praised the report.
“The committee did a fantastic job sorting the spin and blamecasting from actionable policy matters,” said Derek Cohen, Vice President of Policy at Texas Public Policy Foundation and Right On Crime Senior Fellow. “The report leaves us with an undeniable conclusion: the tragedy in Uvalde could have been somewhat mitigated if certain practices and procedures were correctly implemented. Individuals failed in the response, and we must seek to change the organizational culture that permitted such failures.”
The foundation suggested Texas should create a limited doctrine of liability for police response during mass casualty events where – once a response has been initiated – failure to abide by established standard operating procedure in bringing the incident to a swift resolution automatically waives any immunity that may apply. It also said “the experiment” with ‘district-based law enforcement’ should be over. Instead, the foundation insisted schools should be required to rely upon county or city personnel for contract law enforcement.
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