AUSTIN, Texas — The Travis County District Attorney's office is looking for a prosecutor to lead its civil rights unit, but a recruiting email sent by the assistant attorney has a state law enforcement association calling for her removal.
The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, also known as CLEAT, is calling for the removal of the assistant district attorney of Travis County, Trudy Strassburger.
This is following an email about a job posting, seeking a lead attorney for the Travis County Civil Rights Unit. The previous DA created the unit to investigate and prosecute unlawful use of force by officers.
The email in question reads in part, "Friends, I am reaching out in the hopes that you may be looking to prosecute police officers or that you know someone who is."
PHOTS: Lead attorney job posting for the Travis County Civil Rights Unit
CLEAT's Executive Director Charley Wilkison said the email is an attack on Central Texas Law Enforcement.
"This kind of didactic language is for activists and not for the benign prosecutorial powers that reside inside of the wall of an elected district attorney," said Wilkison.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said unions simply don't want law enforcement officials prosecuted for breaking the law.
"They don't care about the words we used," said Garza. "They just don't think that law enforcement officers should be prosecuted when they commit criminal acts and I strongly disagree."
Garza said the Civil Rights Unit has been overworked and cases have been backlogged. He said they need a lead attorney to fill this position because of increased reports of police misconduct in the community.
Garza said that, in 2021, the Travis County grand jury indicted seven officers and right now, 11 cases are pending.
"We will absolutely recruit attorneys to fill those openings and we will accurately continue to accurately describe what the work is in our sexual assault unit," said Garza. "We look for attorneys who prosecute sexual assault in our child abuse unit. We look for attorneys who want to prosecute child abuse. In our civil rights unit, we look for attorneys who are willing to hold law enforcement accountable when they break the law."
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