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Being sloppy with PSB paperwork can get you
indicted
By Carlos Peniche
27-YEAR DOUBLE BOARD CERTIFIED LITIGATION
ATTORNEY
As a regulated profession, security has a fair amount of paperwork to deal with in complying with �1702 of the Texas Occupations Code (the Private Security Act). The PSA is administered by the Texas Department of Public Safety through DPS� Texas Private Security Board (the �board�) and the Private Security Bureau. Pursuant to its duty to enforce the PSA, the PSB requires licensees, owners, managers, registrants and others to submit a number of documents which constitute �government records.�
Examples would range from applications to become a licensee, owner or manager to original registrations and renewals of commissions (armed security). In support of original registrations or commissions and renewal of commissions certifications of training and, for commissions, firearm qualification or proficiency, must be submitted. Many of the forms provided by the PSB have warnings which say �Notice: This is a governmental record. Any false entry made on this document could be considered a criminal violation.� Some forms, such as the training certifications, do not contain the warning but that does not mean that false entries thereon won�t result in criminal charges.
When documents with false entries on them are submitted to the PSB, in all likelihood it is going to be a DPS investigator or employee who presses the charges. Most likely any charges brought by DPS will be under �37.10 of the Texas Penal Code, �Tampering with Governmental Record.� The first two and fifth provisions of that statute state:
�Sec. 37.10. TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD. (a) A person commits an offense if he:
(1) Knowingly makes a false entry in, or false alteration of, a governmental record;
(2) Makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent that it be taken as a genuine governmental record; �
(5) Makes, presents, or uses a governmental record with knowledge of its falsity;�
Depending upon the circumstances of the false entry or knowing use of the false information, the offense can be a class A or B misdemeanor, a state jail felony or a third or second degree felony.
It is not uncommon for licensee owners to also operate an approved training school. If you are a busy owner of a licensee and approved training school, be careful when employees bring you original and/or renewal applications with attached training certificates ready for you to sign for submission to the PSB. When DPS field investigators go to your posts and start asking your officers about their training, depending upon their answers, you may find yourself the subject of a criminal investigation and subject to a summary suspension of your license due to a pending criminal charge all because you quickly signed a number of documents presented to you by an employee in a hurry to make sure needed documents get to the PSB by some rapidly approaching deadline.
The moral of the story: make sure what you are signing for submission to the PSB is correct whether the form has a warning on it or not.
Carlos Peniche is a 27 year, double board certified (Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization) litigation attorney who has represented security guard contractors, private investigators, alarm companies and other security professionals in both litigation and transactional matters. He is the founder of Peniche, Dominguez & Rojas, PLLC (Houston, Texas) He may be contacted at 713-222-7444, by fax at 713-583-2044 or by
e-mail at [email protected].
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