Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1995 )

QBffice of the ST4ttornep General Sbtate of Ill;exae DAN MORALES /LrrORNEY GENERAL March10,1995 Honorable Mike Driscoll Opiion No. DM-333 Hanis County Attorney 1001 Preston, Suite 634 Re: Harris County SheritYs authority to call Houston, Texas 77002-1891 up resetve deputy she&H to provide security personnel to separate govemmeintd or private edtie& and related questions (RQ-750) Dear Mr. Driscoll: You ,ask whether section 85.004 of the Local Government Code authorizes the Harris County Sheriff “to call a reserve deputy [sheriQ into service for the purpose of providing security personnel to a separate govemmental or private entity that will pay the deputies on an employee or independent contmctor basis.” Elsewhere in your request, you chsracterize the contemplated artangement as one where *a resetve deputy sheriff is assigned by the SheritT to be employed...as securhy personnel with a sepamte govemmentd or private entity,” ktion 85.004 gcmrdy empowers a commissioners court to authorize the &tiff to appoint reserve deputies and to call them “into service if the sheriff considers it nemsary to have additional officers to preserve the peace and enforce the law.” Section 85.004 in no way alludes to the sheriB’s provision of deputies, resem or otherwise, to other public or private entities which will themselves pay the deputies. Clearly, section 85.004 does not itself provide the authority you ask about-nor, we note, do any of the other provisions of law cited in your brief. We answer your first question in the negative.1 You ask additionally whether the licenstue requiretnents of the Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act, V.T.C.S. art. 4413(29bb), apply to reserve deputies assigned as seauity permute1 to other entities, and also who could be held liable for injuries s&bred or inflicted by them while aC$ttg in such capacity. In view Honorable Mike DriscoU - Page 2 (DM-333) of our response to your Srst question-that neither section 85.004 nor any other law you have cited authorizes the sheriB’s assignment of reserve deputies to other entities as security personnel-we do not think it appropriate to attempt to reach these questions here. Since counties and county officers have only such powers as are expressly granted by legislation or necessarily to be inferred therefrom, we be&eve that it must be established as a threshold matter whether and if so ,under what circumstances the use of reserve deputies you ask about is authorized3 SUMMARY !kCth 85.0&f hCd -Ult code, Which &XlUdy empowers a commissioners court to authorize the sheriff to appointment reserve deputies and to call them “into setvice if the sheriff considers it necessary to have additional officers to preserve the peace and enforce the law,” does not in itself authorize the Harris CountyShaifftocallaresavedeputysheriffintosaviaforthe purpose of providint3 securhy personnel to a separate Sovemmental or private entity that will pay the deputies on an employee or independent contractor basis. DAN MORALES Attorney General of Texas JORGE VEGA Fii Assistant Attorney General SARAH J. SHIRLEY Chair, Opinion Committee Prepared by William Walker Assistant Attorney General