Crime & Police

A party and concert turned fatal over the weekend. Now, the city is considering new rules for promoters.

A new federal bill could overly restrict hemp farmers. A new national hemp assocation is looking to change that.

In a seven-year period, road rage incidents accounted for 15% of murders in the city of Dallas. With these incidents on the rise, local police have formed a task force intended to tap the brakes.

Dozens of Texas lawmakers are seeking clemency for death-row inmate Melissa Lucio, who advocates say is innocent of killing her 2-year-old daughter.

There are two federal cannabis legalization bills in the works. One of them is the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act and it could get a vote in the House of Representatives this week.

State officials confirmed that an independent law enforcement agency is conducting a criminal investigation into the death of Terry Stewart, who died in a solitary confinement cell on while on suicide watch in Dallas County Jail a few weeks ago. It’s unclear which agency is doing the investigating.

Republican border hysteria incites anti-immigrant vigilantes to take up arms.

This Dallas crypto scam reached far and wide. Now, the people who started it are going to prison.

One hemp association in Texas suggested THC isomer products be regulated like alcohol and tobacco. Some lawmakers want to ban the stuff outright.

DPD recently concluded its review and said it sticks by the original findings: that there was no criminal wrongdoing by former paramedic Brad Cox.

Sgt. James Cullen Bristo, a Dallas Police officer who’s been with the department since 1988, allegedly used his position to violate another person’s rights.

Last year, the Dallas City Council unanimously passed reforms to the city’s code of ethics. An integral part of those reforms was the creation of Dallas first office of inspector general.

At least 1,745 are required to get cannabis decriminalization on the ballot for Denton’s election in November.

The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office is going after two cops accused of excessive force during the Summer 2020 protests.

The way the feds tell it, it was a big haul. On top of arresting 20 alleged drug dealers that belong to a gang called the Hamilton Park Posse, law enforcement confiscated dozens of guns, hundreds of dollars’ worth of assets and 220 pounds of cocaine, fentanyl-laced pills, meth and…

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is up for reelection, and one of his longtime consultants just got indicted on felony theft and bribery charges. Todd Smith, the consultant, was allegedly taking money in exchange for Texas hemp licenses. Texas hemp licenses only cost $100.

The Dallas Police Department maintains that the shooting was an accident and that no one meant to kill Lynetta Washington. Her family still thinks otherwise and is determined to get justice.

For the activists who wrote it, the weed decriminalization ordinance that faced a vote before Denton’s City Council Tuesday afternoon was a concession. “I really feel like what we’re asking for right now is still a watered down version of what needs to be done,” said Tristan Seikel, organizer and…

The father of a Darius Tarver, a UNT student killed by police, has filed a lawsuit against the city of Denton.

A wave of funding for police in North Texas schools is on the way. Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was distributing about $126 million to add policing and public safety measures in schools. About $1.8 million of that funding is coming to six different…

Among a number of new laws taking effect on Jan. 1 is a law handing control of local law enforcement budgets over to county residents in Texas. Authored by state Sen. Joan Huffman the new law requires any reduction to the budgets of local law enforcement agencies (meaning county sheriff’s…

Between North Texas Capitol rioter Jenna Ryan, the delta and omicron variants of COVID-19 and an endless series of worrisome new laws on the books, it was a hell of a year. It’s hard to know where to start, but the Observer has a few suggestion for catching up on…