Code of Criminal Procedure.

Two short articles set the foundation. Article 1.01 gives the law its name: the “Code of Criminal Procedure”. Article 1.03 explains what the Code is for.

The Code is meant to hold the rules for both the prevention and the prosecution of offenses against the laws of Texas. It is also meant to make those rules intelligible, which means understandable, to two groups: the officers who act under them, and every person whose rights are affected by them. You are expected to be able to read and follow this Code.

Article 1.03 then lists six things the Code seeks to do. Adopt measures for preventing crime. Exclude the offender from all hope of escape. Insure a trial with as little delay as is consistent with the ends of justice. Bring to the trial all the evidence tending to produce conviction or acquittal. Insure a fair and impartial trial. And make certain the sentence of the law is executed once it is declared.

Notice the balance in that list. The Code is not only about catching and convicting. It asks for all the evidence, whether it points to conviction or to acquittal, and for a fair and impartial trial.

Chapter 2 of the Code was repealed and replaced by Chapter 2A effective January 1, 2025. The list of peace officers is now Article 2A.001, and it opens with the words “The following are peace officers”. Articles 2A.002 to 2A.008 then deal with people who have some police powers without being on that list, or who are peace officers only within narrow limits.

The list starts with the officers you will work beside every day: sheriffs and their deputies, constables and deputy constables, municipal marshals and police officers, and the rangers and officers commissioned by the Public Safety Commission and the director of DPS. Reserve deputies, reserve deputy constables and reserve municipal officers are on the list only if they hold a permanent peace officer license. The list goes on to cover many state and local commissions, such as investigators for a district or county attorney, TABC agents, arson investigators, school district and campus officers, officers commissioned by the Parks and Wildlife Commission, fire marshals, and investigators commissioned by TCOLE.

Article 2A.002 covers people who are not peace officers but still have some Texas powers. Federal criminal investigators named there, such as special agents of the FBI, Secret Service, ICE, ATF and DEA, postal inspectors and U.S. marshals, have the powers of arrest, search and seizure under Texas law as to felony offenses only. National Park Service and Forest Service officers have those powers for any state offense committed in a national park, national recreation area or the National Forest System. Customs and border officers at a port of entry or a permanent checkpoint may detain a person for a peace officer on probable cause of public intoxication, DWI, intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter.

The remaining articles create limited kinds of officers. Tribal councils of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo may commission peace officers to enforce state law on the reservation. An officer from an adjoining state has Texas authority only while transporting a prisoner to or from a border county hospital, or while in a Texas municipality within one mile of the state line. The director of DPS may appoint not more than 250 railroad peace officers and not more than 50 special rangers of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. A chief or sheriff may appoint not more than 50 adjunct police officers from a private college’s police force in a county of less than 200,000 people.

A school marshal must be licensed under Occupations Code 1701.260 and appointed by the school’s governing body. A school marshal may act only as necessary to prevent or abate an offense that threatens serious bodily injury or death to a student, faculty member or visitor on school premises. Railroad peace officers, special rangers and school marshals share two limits: they may not issue traffic citations under Chapter 521 or Subtitle C, Title 7, of the Transportation Code, and they are not entitled to the state benefits normally provided to a peace officer.