Texas peace officer exam glossary: 44 key terms

This glossary picks one central term from each of the 44 topics and explains it in plain words. Each entry gives the statute section where we give one, and ends with a link to the full guide for that topic. The terms run from A to Z.

Abduct: Restraint plus an intent to prevent the person being freed, either by hiding them or by using or threatening deadly force. Restraint itself means restricting someone's movement without consent so as to interfere substantially with their liberty (Penal Code sec. 20.01). Read the guide
Appropriate regard: The standard of care an emergency vehicle operator must meet, and the duty that takes back the privileges of the chapter if the operator drives without it. It means appropriate regard for the safety of all persons (Transportation Code sec. 546.005). Read the guide
Arrest warrant: The document a magistrate signs for an arrest. Article 15.02 gives it three requisites, and a sworn complaint usually starts the process (Code of Criminal Procedure arts. 15.01, 15.02, 15.04 and 15.05). Read the guide
Assault: An offense that can be committed in three separate ways, each with its own default grade, so the first question at a scene is which way the conduct falls into (Penal Code sec. 22.01). Read the guide
Citation in lieu of arrest: A written citation that lets an officer release a person instead of taking them before a magistrate. There is one power for Class C offenses and a separate power for Class A and B offenses, each with its own conditions (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 14.06(b), (c) and (d)). Read the guide
Collision driver duties: What every driver involved in a collision must do: stop, return, check whether anyone needs aid, stay, exchange the listed information, render reasonable assistance and report. The grade of the offense for failing to do so depends on what the collision caused (Transportation Code ch. 550, subch. B). Read the guide
Crime victim liaison: The person every local agency must name to deal with crime victims. It sits alongside the written notice an investigating agency must give a victim at first contact (Code of Criminal Procedure arts. 56A.203 and 56A.401). Read the guide
Criminal homicide: Causing the death of an individual intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence. It divides into murder, capital murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and almost every mark turns on the mental state (Penal Code sec. 19.01). Read the guide
Criminal mischief: Damaging, destroying, tampering with or marking another person's tangible property without effective consent. It is graded almost entirely by the amount of pecuniary loss (Penal Code secs. 28.03 and 28.06). Read the guide
Culpable mental state: The state of mind an offense needs before anyone is guilty of it, unless the definition plainly dispenses with one. There are four: intentionally, knowingly, recklessly and with criminal negligence, ranked in that order (Penal Code secs. 6.02 and 6.03). Read the guide
Custodial interrogation: Questioning of a suspect in custody. Warnings must come before it, and Texas builds a stricter structure on top: an oral custodial statement is inadmissible unless it was electronically recorded with the warning given on the recording (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 38.22). Read the guide
De-escalation training: Training the legislature requires of officers in how to limit the force they use. It includes a 40-hour de-escalation and crisis intervention program (Occupations Code sec. 1701.253(j)). Read the guide
Disorderly conduct: A list of eleven kinds of street-level misconduct, almost all Class C, with the two firearm limbs raised to Class B (Penal Code sec. 42.01). Read the guide
Emergency detention: A narrow civil power to take a person into custody without a warrant when mental illness creates a substantial risk of serious harm and there is no time to get a warrant. Once it is used, the officer has duties about where the person goes and what must be filed (Health and Safety Code ch. 573). Read the guide
Evidence of financial responsibility: One of the three documents every traffic stop turns on, alongside the registration and the driver's license. Insurance is policed by Chapter 601 of the Transportation Code. Read the guide
Evidence tampering: The offense of tampering, which sits around the law behind scene work, because physical evidence is only worth what can be proved about it later (Penal Code sec. 37.09). Beside it is the rule that an unaccredited laboratory's work is inadmissible (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 38.35). Read the guide
Exclusionary rule: The rule that no evidence obtained in violation of the law may be admitted against the accused at trial. In Texas it reaches conduct by any person, not only the police, and violations of ordinary statutes, not only the Constitution (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 38.23). Read the guide
Family violence: A defined term in the Family Code, read together with the definitions of family, household and dating violence. The court's protective order is in Chapter 85 of the Family Code (Family Code sec. 71.004), and the officer's duties at the scene are in Code of Criminal Procedure art. 5.04. Read the guide
Forgery: An offense with three limbs, graded by the kind of writing that was forged. A value ladder takes over where the actor was trying to obtain property or a service (Penal Code sec. 32.21). Read the guide
Identity theft: An offense graded by counting the items of identifying information involved. It carries a presumption of intent that applies at three or more persons (Penal Code sec. 32.51). Read the guide
Injury to a child: Causing injury to a child, an elderly individual or a disabled individual. It reaches omission as well as acts, and it is graded by the result caused combined with the mental state. A child is 14 or younger and an elderly individual is 65 or older (Penal Code sec. 22.04). Read the guide
Intoxicated: Either losing the normal use of mental or physical faculties through alcohol, a drug or any other substance, or having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more. This definition does most of the work in the driving while intoxicated offenses (Penal Code ch. 49). Read the guide
Investigative detention: A stop of a person. It is a seizure, so the Fourth Amendment governs it, and Texas shuts the door on evidence obtained in breach of the law (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 38.23). The stop and the frisk come from Terry v. Ohio. Read the guide
Minor: For the alcohol offenses, a person under 21 years of age. Five minor offenses all take their punishment from one section (Alcoholic Beverage Code secs. 106.01 and 106.071). Read the guide
Missing person: A defined term that starts a set of clocks for the agency. On receiving a report the agency must start the investigation and enter the person in the clearinghouse and the national crime information center within two hours (Code of Criminal Procedure arts. 63.001 and 63.009). Read the guide
Party to an offense: A person who is criminally responsible for the conduct of another. The old distinction between principals and accomplices is abolished, and section 7.02 lists the routes to responsibility (Penal Code secs. 7.01 and 7.02). Read the guide
Peace officer: A person who holds one of the offices or commissions that article 2A.001 lists. A person is a peace officer because of the office or commission held, not because of a license (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 2A.001). Read the guide
Peace officer license: The license every peace officer must hold. Appointment needs it, and the license itself needs training, an exam, medical and psychological declarations and weapons proficiency (Occupations Code secs. 1701.301 and 1701.307). Read the guide
Penalty group: The category in which the Controlled Substances Act places each substance. The group decides which punishment ladder applies (Health and Safety Code ch. 481). Read the guide
Perjury: One of the lying offenses that protect the machinery of justice. What makes each lie an offense is an oath, an official proceeding, materiality or a peace officer conducting an investigation (Penal Code ch. 37). Read the guide
Probable cause: What the Fourth Amendment and article I, section 9 of the Texas Constitution require for a warrant, together with an oath or affirmation and a description of the place and the person or thing. Read the guide
Prohibited places: The places where a firearm, location-restricted knife, club or prohibited weapon may not be taken at all (Penal Code sec. 46.03). Read the guide
Racial profiling: A law enforcement-initiated action based on race, ethnicity or national origin rather than on behavior, or on information identifying the individual as having engaged in criminal activity. An officer may not engage in it. Read the guide
Recorded recollection: The way a police report can be read into evidence, but only under conditions. It is a different route from using a writing to refresh memory, which must be produced to the other side (Texas Rules of Evidence 803(5) and 612). Read the guide
Robbery: A theft, or an attempt at one, in which the actor hurts or frightens someone. The phrase "in the course of committing theft" stretches from the attempt through to immediate flight (Penal Code secs. 29.01 and 29.03). Read the guide
Search warrant: A warrant built on the Fourth Amendment, with Texas detail added: a sworn affidavit in every case, a closed list of grounds, a named class of judge for an evidentiary warrant, and a hard count of whole days for execution. Read the guide
Search warrant return: What the officer does after executing a warrant: within three whole days, endorse how it was executed and give the magistrate an inventory, after which the magistrate decides what happens to the property (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 18.10). Read the guide
Section 9.51 justification: The officer's own justification for force. It separates into three questions: may force be used at all, was the arrest or search believed lawful and were purpose and identity manifested, and, if deadly force is in issue, does one of the two alternative grounds apply (Penal Code sec. 9.51). Read the guide
Self-defense: The justification for force used to protect oneself. It also lists when force is never justified, and deadly force sits on top of it with a second reasonable belief (Penal Code secs. 9.31 and 9.32). Read the guide
Sexual assault: An offense with two limbs. The adult limb turns on consent, and the child limb does not. A list of circumstances says when an act is treated as without consent (Penal Code sec. 22.011). Read the guide
Taking possession of a child: The power of a law enforcement officer to take a child without a court order. The chapter sets the standard that justifies it and a tight timetable of petition, initial hearing and notice that must follow (Family Code ch. 262). Read the guide
Theft: Unlawfully appropriating property with intent to deprive the owner of it. The definitions of appropriate, deprive, effective consent and deception decide most close cases, and a value ladder fixes the grade (Penal Code secs. 31.01 and 31.03). Read the guide
Traffic stop: A seizure under the Fourth Amendment. It needs reasonable suspicion or probable cause of a violation, its length is measured by its mission, and the officer's private motive does not matter. Read the guide
Warrantless arrest: An arrest without a warrant, which is allowed only in the cases that Chapter 14 lists. Nothing outside the list will do, and the list includes the offense the officer sees (Code of Criminal Procedure arts. 14.01 and 14.03). Read the guide

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