Texas Peace Officer Prep

Free Texas peace officer exam practice questions

These are ten scenario questions from the question bank, one from each of ten topics. Choose an option for each, then open the answer to read the correct choice and the explanation. They are original questions written from public Texas law, and they are not questions from the real examination.

Question 1: Constitutional limits on police action

Officer Delgado searches a parked car without a warrant and later says in her report that the search was lawful because she had the driver's implied consent as a licensed motorist. Her sergeant asks which constitutional standard the search will actually be tested against.

1. Whether the driver had been informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, as the Sixth Amendment requires before any search
2. Whether the driver was deprived of property without just compensation under the Fifth Amendment
3. Whether the search was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment and article I, section 9
4. Whether the search was carried out within 48 hours of the arrest so that no due process issue arises

Topic guide: Constitutional limits on police action

Question 2: Arrest without a warrant

Officer Reyes is on foot patrol when she watches a man walk out of a convenience store with an unpaid bottle of spirits. The value makes it a Class B misdemeanor. Her field training officer asks what authorizes an arrest.

1. Article 14.01(b) — a peace officer may arrest for any offense committed in her view
2. Nothing — an in-view arrest is confined to a felony or an offense against the public peace
3. Nothing until the store manager has signed a written complaint naming the man and setting out the value of the goods taken
4. Article 14.04 — the man is walking away and so is an offender about to escape

Topic guide: Arrest without a warrant

Question 3: Search warrants and warrantless searches

Cadet Lindqvist is asked what article 18.01(b) requires in every case before a Texas magistrate may issue a search warrant.

1. An officer's verbal account of the grounds, given to the magistrate in person
2. A sworn affidavit setting out substantial facts establishing probable cause
3. The written consent of the district attorney for the county where the search will happen
4. A previous unsuccessful attempt to obtain consent to search from the occupant

Topic guide: Search warrants and warrantless searches

Question 4: Use of force and deadly force

Officer Reyes, in uniform, walks up to a man she is arresting for burglary, says nothing at all about why she is there, and takes hold of his arm. He had no idea an officer was coming for him.

1. Section 9.51(a) needed her to manifest her purpose to arrest and identify herself first
2. The arrest is fine because the uniform speaks for itself in every situation
3. The arrest is fine because section 9.51 places no conditions at all on an officer's use of force to take someone into custody for a felony offense
4. The arrest is fine because burglary is a felony and felony arrests are exempt

Topic guide: Use of force and deadly force

Question 5: Assaultive offenses

Officer Reyes takes a report that a man raised his fist at his neighbor across a fence and said he would knock him out. No contact was made and nobody was hurt.

1. No offense, because assault always requires some injury to be caused
2. Assault under section 22.01(a)(1), because the neighbor felt frightened by it
3. Assault under section 22.01(a)(2), a threat of imminent bodily injury, a Class C misdemeanor by default
4. Aggravated assault, because a raised fist counts as exhibiting a deadly weapon whenever the person threatened is smaller or weaker

Topic guide: Assaultive offenses

Question 6: Theft and theft of service

Officer Ramos detains a man who walked out of a store with a $40 bottle of liquor hidden in his coat. He has no previous convictions.

1. Theft, a Class B misdemeanor, because the property was concealed on the person
2. Theft, a Class A misdemeanor, because it was taken from a retail store
3. Theft, a Class C misdemeanor, because the value of the property is less than $100
4. No arrestable offense; a theft under $100 is a civil matter for the store

Topic guide: Theft and theft of service

Question 7: Controlled substances offenses

Officer Castillo searches a man during a lawful arrest and finds a small bag containing 0.6 gram of cocaine, including cut, in his jacket pocket. There is no evidence of dealing.

1. A Class A misdemeanor, because the amount is under one gram
2. A third degree felony, the first step of the Penalty Group 1 possession ladder, because cocaine is graded one step higher than other Group 1 substances when it has been mixed with cut
3. A Class B misdemeanor, the same as a small amount of marihuana
4. Possession of a Penalty Group 1 substance under section 481.115(b), a state jail felony because the amount is less than one gram by aggregate weight

Topic guide: Controlled substances offenses

Question 8: Driving while intoxicated and chemical testing

Officer Salcedo stops a driver who is slurring, cannot stand without support and fails every field sobriety task. A later breath test shows 0.06. The driver's lawyer says he cannot be intoxicated below 0.08.

1. The lawyer is right, because since the 0.08 standard was adopted a breath or blood result below it is a complete answer to any intoxication charge
2. The lawyer is right unless a second analysis is taken within two hours and shows 0.08 or more, because the statute allows for absorption after driving
3. The lawyer is wrong, because section 49.01(2) also defines intoxicated as loss of the normal use of mental or physical faculties
4. The lawyer is wrong only if a drug other than alcohol is found, because the 0.08 rule is exclusive for alcohol and the faculties limb is for drugs

Topic guide: Driving while intoxicated and chemical testing

Question 9: Family violence response and protective orders

Officer Delgado responds to a disturbance. A woman says her former roommate, who moved out eight months ago and was never a partner, came back tonight and punched her in the face.

1. Not family violence, because the two were never married, related or in a dating relationship
2. Not family violence, because section 71.005 requires the persons to be living together in the same dwelling at the time of the act, and eight months apart breaks the household
3. Family violence only if the roommate is related by consanguinity or affinity under section 71.003
4. Family violence under section 71.004(1), because section 71.006 says a member of a household includes a person who previously lived there

Topic guide: Family violence response and protective orders

Question 10: Racial profiling law and reporting

Trooper Beck stops a car on a state highway because, as he later writes, the driver "looked out of place for this area". Beck observed no traffic violation and had no information linking the car or driver to any offense.

1. The stop is lawful profiling, because a trooper may act on instinct where the road is known for drug trafficking, and chapter 2B permits a law enforcement-initiated action based on ethnicity where the officer can point to a pattern of offending in the area by persons of the same background
2. The stop is racial profiling if it was based on the driver's race, ethnicity or national origin rather than on behavior or on information identifying the driver as having engaged in criminal activity, and article 2B.0052 prohibits it
3. The stop cannot be racial profiling because Beck did not record the driver's race before making it
4. The stop is unlawful only if Beck went on to search the car without consent

Topic guide: Racial profiling law and reporting

Keep practicing

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