Grayson County sheriff's deputies could start checking whether commercial trucks are carrying too much weight under an agreement with the Texas Department of Public Safety that county commissioners are set to consider Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The item, requested Oct. 27 by Jeremy Cox of the sheriff's office, is on the commissioners court agenda for its 10 a.m. meeting. The packet includes a three-page memorandum of understanding that makes the sheriff's office an "allied agency" allowed to enforce the state's truck weight rules.
What DPS would do
Under the draft agreement, DPS would train, test and certify qualified officers, forward any complaints or challenges about weight stops to the sheriff's office, and provide the software used to enter inspection data, with the county covering that cost. DPS could also send observers to watch inspections in person.
What the county would take on
Deputies would have to be full-time, commissioned officers who complete a 40-hour basic commercial vehicle enforcement course run by the DPS Motor Carrier Bureau and score at least 80% to be certified. They would need to recertify after each legislative session.
The agreement requires a specific reason to stop a truck before weighing it, and it says a fixed site that signals all commercial traffic to pull in for weighing would conflict with that rule. Inspections could be done only on duty, and deputies could not be paid for weighing a vehicle or do it to benefit a carrier.
The sheriff's office would have to buy scales from a DPS-approved list, have them recalibrated every year and keep those records for three years. It would also need hardware and software to upload inspection reports to DPS and would file an annual activity report by Jan. 31.
