The 84th Texas Legislature (2015) created the Texas Transnational Intelligence Center (TTIC) through Section 362.005 of the Local Government Code. Under the new statute, law enforcement agencies in counties along the Texas-Mexico border, or who have a federal checkpoint in operation within their jurisdiction, shall report criminal activity to include details on autopsies, kidnappings, home invasions, and incidents of impersonation of law enforcement officers to the TTIC.
TTIC definition of Transnational Crime:
"Transnational organized crime involves the planning and execution of illicit business ventures by groups or networks of individuals working in more than one country. Use of systematic violence and corruption by these criminal groups to achieve their goals. These crimes commonly include money laundering; human smuggling; cyber-crime; and trafficking of humans, drugs, weapons, endangered species, body parts, or nuclear material." National Institutes of Justice (NIJ)
Roles and Responsibilities:
TTIC (The Center):
- The center is to serve as the repository for:
- All criminal activity in the counties along the Texas / Mexico border. This is the data reported by border LEAs
- Criminal activity from other parts of the state that are deemed by the center to be transnational in nature. This data would be sourced by TTIC personnel from law enforcement incident databases as well as publicly accessible databases and sources. TTIC legislation does not define transnational criminal activity.
- Information regarding decedents for which autopsies indicate the cause of death is likely connected to transnational criminal activity. This information would be obtained from Medical Examiners.
- The Center is charged with making this data available to each law enforcement agency in the state as well as the TABC and TPWD.
- The Center is responsible for developing a privacy policy that complies with the tenants of section 421.085 TGC.
- While not expressly stated in the TTIC legislation as a requirement, intelligence products can be derived from the data maintained in the Center's repository
Border Law Enforcement Agencies
Border law enforcement agencies are required to report criminal activity to the TTIC, with an emphasis on kidnappings, home invasions and incidents of impersonation of law enforcement officers. Border agencies did not receive funding to facilitate this reporting.
TABC and TPWD
TABC and TPWD are tasked with reporting activities that occur in their jurisdiction that have a nexus to transnational crime.
The DPS
The DPS will assist in the establishment and operation of the Center in the following ways:
- Provide advice on how to best leverage existing crime reporting infrastructure and methodologies that can be used to fulfill the goals of TTIC while not creating an additional burden for the contributing agencies.
- Provide assistance with project planning associated with establishment and operation of the Center.
- Assist the Center with outreach and training of contributors to the Center.
- If desired, assist the Center in developing meaningful intelligence reports and provide guidance in the assessment of intelligence product development tools.