Related story
More than a year's hotel tax, still unspentWho Polices You?
The Legislature is actively weighing whether to raise the bar for creating police agencies or encourage consolidation, with recommendations due to the 90th Session in January 2027. Texans deserve to see the system being debated — starting with their own address.
Read this in the original
This entry provides context and source notes. Its detailed explanation remains in the original build; a separate visual breakdown has not yet been authored here.
- Start with the question and coverage below.
- Open the original to inspect the records, controls and evidence behind the finding.
- Check the source dates and methodology before comparing figures or drawing a conclusion.
What you’re looking at
An editorial investigation of Texas' overlapping law enforcement agencies: the 35 statutory pathways that create them, the depth of jurisdictional overlap at a single Houston intersection, what the patchwork costs, the honest case in its defense, and the May 2026 House hearing that put consolidation on the table. Includes a personal lookup — drill to the ZIP level in Harris County or browse all 254 counties — with a downloadable share card for every result.
The question behind it
Built from the Texas DPS arrest-authority registry, TCOLE statistics, Sunset Advisory Commission reports, the Texas 2036 Data Landscape report, the Census of Governments, and real polygon overlap of official boundary files, so every Texan can see exactly which law enforcement agencies claim jurisdiction where they live.
Why it matters
The Legislature is actively weighing whether to raise the bar for creating police agencies or encourage consolidation, with recommendations due to the 90th Session in January 2027. Texans deserve to see the system being debated — starting with their own address.
Open the full visualizationSources & method
- Texas DPS Arresting Agency ORI registry
- TCOLE Current Statistics
- Sunset Advisory Commission TCOLE reports (2020–2023)
- Texas 2036 / Benchmark Analytics Data Landscape (2022)
- U.S. Census of Governments (2022)
- Kinder Institute for Urban Research (2018)
- Texas House hearing record, May 28, 2026
Method
Agency counts from TCOLE and the DPS arrest-authority registry, with the nested-universe distinction shown explicitly. Harris County ZIP lookups use shapely polygon intersection of Census ZCTA, county, place, constable-precinct, and school-district boundaries, gated to the county's DPS roster. No per-ZIP cost figures are shown anywhere — no agency publishes sub-area spending. All hearing quotes carry their reporting attribution.