A15 II 01-11-2013 Set: 23:27:03Sent by: klueb@dallasnews.com News CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK

The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com II Friday, January 11, 2013 15AFROM THE FRONT PAGE/WORLD

fast.org is influential among crimi-nal-justice policy watchers.

“The law has not kept up with thetechnology,” said Henson, who is cir-culating proposed legislation to mo-dernize the state Code of CriminalProcedure. No lawmaker has agreedto sponsor the measure yet, he said,but “folks really seem to intuitivelyunderstand that it’s a big deal.”

The American Civil LibertiesUnion of Texas and EFF-Austin, a“cyber liberties” organization, are al-so working on the effort, part of a na-tional movement toward tighteningup privacy formobile device users.

Texas law officers currently haveto get a court warrant for a wiretap,Henson said, and a court order is re-quired before police can attach anelectronic tracking device to some-one’s vehicle. But he said the rise ofsmartphones equipped with GPSnavigation means police can simplysubpoena tracking records from cell-phone companies, which received 1.3million such requests in 2011.

New technology, apps and infor-mation-sharing among federal, stateand local law enforcement provideadditional ways to get the data, saidMatt Simpson, a policy strategistwith the ACLUof Texas.

“We want to make sure there’s aground floor that no one could sinkbelow in protecting constitutionalrights and privacy,” Simpson said.

While police respect privacyrights, law enforcement uses tech-nology to combat crime, just as crim-inals use it for their purposes, saidCharley Wilkison, public affairs di-rector for the Combined Law En-forcement Associations of Texas.

“It’s a balance between the free-dom of the individual … and the rightof law enforcement to try to get at thebad actors,” he said.

Wilkison said accusations thatGPS data is used broadly by police tospy on regular citizens are “a damnlie.” But he acknowledged that civilliberties advocates have a receptiveaudience among many lawmakersbecause of the “strong libertine, inde-pendent streak” in Texas.

Other parts of the proposed legis-lation would allow a judge’s order forlocation tracking to be sealed only for180 days, not permanently. The legis-

lation would require state law en-forcement to report on the amount,type and outcome of location track-ing by police agencies, similar toother aggregate law enforcement re-porting.

The Freedom of InformationFoundation of Texas could find thatpublic reporting aspect of the pro-posal appealing, though it wouldneed to see the filed bill before ex-pressing support, said attorney Lau-ra Prather, co-chair of the founda-tion’s legislative committee.

“We’re about transparency andhaving checks and balances on thesystem,” Prather said.

How police officers must obtaincellphone tracking information hasnot been fully answered by thecourts, said Richard Segura, a super-vising attorney and skills director forthe criminal defense clinic at theUniversity of Texas School of Law.

Cellphone location informationand a “star witness” from a cellphonecompany helped to convict a capitalmurder defendant that he re-presented several years ago, Segurasaid. Red dots shown on a screen incourt tracked the defendant’s where-abouts, and the defendant ended upwith a life sentence.

“Literally, he left an electronic pa-per trail” using his cellphone, Segurasaid. “They literally drew amap fromthe death scene to his apartment.”

It’s clear that many people viewtheir phone conversations andphone activities as a private matter,Segura said, suggesting that law-makers do as well.

“Do the legislators really want thepublic to know that their vehiclestops by the bar on the way home ev-ery day?” he said.

License plate scanners, like thoseDallas police will soon use, showthere are multiple electronic waysfor law enforcement to check on citi-zens, said Simpson of the ACLU ofTexas.

Henson noted that the proposedlegislation narrowly focuses on GPSnavigation data and doesn’t addressother apps or technology, like thosethat allow people to listen in on oth-ers’ conversations via smartphones.

“We’re trying to open the door,” hesaid, “and say let’s at least take thefirst step through.”

Cellphone trackingconcerns groups

Continued fromPage1A

Schools on the list had tohave 50 percent or more oftheir students fail Texas’ stu-dent achievement exams— ei-ther the STAAR or TAKS— intwo of the last three years or an“academically unacceptable”rating over the last three years.

Some school districts andcampuses avoided the list thisyear because the state issuedno performance ratings in2012. Ratings were suspendedas the state launched the newSTAAR testing program andprepared for a new school ac-countability system in 2013.

In addition, passing stan-dards for the first year of theSTAAR were set fairly low be-cause it is a more rigorous testthan its predecessor, theTAKS.

Only a small number of theestimated 320,000 studentseligible to transfer fromschools on the list — re-presenting nearly 6 percent ofcampuses—are expected to doso because the state providesno funding for transportation.Officials have cited lack oftransportation as one of thebiggest roadblocks for stu-dents andparents interested inswitching to another school.

But there may be more in-terest in the program this yearas lawmakers search to givestudents at substandardschools more options to trans-fer. Some lawmakers have saidthe state should considertransportation assistance forstudents to encourage partici-pation.

Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokes-

woman for the educationagency, said transportation isdefinitely an obstacle to par-ents who would like to consid-er moving their children toanother school. But she alsopointed to the reluctance ofmany parents to give up on

their neighborhood schools.“Particularly at the elemen-

tary level, parents really like tohave their children attendingthe school in their neighbor-hood — and participation inthe [grant] program wouldmean taking them out of the

neighborhood,” she said.In rural areas where a

school district has one highschool, transferring wouldmean a trip to the high schoolin another town — a stepmany parents and studentswould be hesitant to take, Rat-

cliffe said.Another factor that has

hampered the program is thatit is voluntary for a school dis-trict to accept students fromsubpar schools in neighboringdistricts. Those districts re-ceive an extra 10 percent inper-pupil funding for everystudent they accept, but mostprefer to educate only thosewithin their boundaries —particularly where someschools are nearly full.

A decision by the Legisla-ture to provide transportationand require school districts toaccept transfers from neigh-boring districts probablywould boost participation, butfew believe a huge number ofparents would immediatelyjump into the program.

While the new chairman ofthe Senate Education Com-mittee, Dan Patrick, R-Hous-ton, has not commented spe-cifically on the grant program,he said last month that stu-dents in failing schools shouldhave the right to transfer toschools in other districts evenif those districts are reluctantto accept them.

“If there is classroom space,

a student should be able to goto a school in another district,”Patrick said. “We need to helpstudents in failing schools.”

The number of subparcampuses was down from lastyear, but it still exceeded fig-ures in previous years, primar-ily because the state artificiallyinflated the performance rat-ings of many schools in thoseyears.

Eliminated from the ac-countability system last yearwas the Texas Projection Mea-sure, which had bumped uptest scores of failing studentsunder a complex formula thatgauged whether they were ex-pected to perform better in fu-ture years.

The projection wasdropped after it came underfire from critics, includingHouse members, as giving anoverly positive view of studentachievement.

The names of schools onthe list are being released nowbecause most districts consid-er transfer requests severalmonths before the start ofeach school year. Parents mustbe notified of the option byFeb. 1, with students allowedto enroll at a new school nextfall. Students also can transferto other schools in their homedistrict.

The list would be longer ifindependent charter schoolswere included, but studentsattend those campuses volun-tarily andmay transfer back totheir home school district atany time.

Follow Terrence Stutz onTwitter at @t_stutz.

35 Dallas schools get failing grade

2 miles

N

Holland ES

Ray ES

Lincoln Humanities/Communications HS

Conner ES

Hillcrest HS

Roosevelt HS

Seagoville HS

Samuell HS

Bryan Adams HS

Cary MS

Pinkston HS

North Dallas HS

Mills ES

Titche ES

Runyon ES

HolmesHumanities

MS

Browne MS

Madison HS

A. Maceo Smith New Tech HS

Spruce HS

Carter HS

Boude Storey MS Comstock MS

Marsalis ES

Tasby MS

McShan ES

Medrano MS

Long MS Kiest ES

Hood MS

Woodrow Wilson HS

Kimball HS

Blanton ES

Florence MS

Conrad HS

COLLIN CO.DENTON CO.

DALLAS CO.

LoveField

DallasIndependentSchool District

DISD campuses on listThe Dallas Independent School District tops this year’s list of Texas schools wherestudents can transfer out because of low test scores or low academic ratings. Here arethe 35 Dallas campuses that made the list:

SOURCE: Texas Education Agency Staff Graphic

635

80

75

175

289

183

356

190

78

66

20

20

20

30

30

LOOP

12

Dalla

sNorthTo

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35E

35E

67

180

34245

Continued fromPage1A NorthTexasschoolsNorthTexas school districtswith schools on thetransfer-eligible list:

Dallas 35

FortWorth 23

Arlington 5

GrandPrairie 2

Garland 1

Keller 1

Wylie 1

LONDON — Britain’s army isbidding goodbye to the Browningpistol it has used for more than 40years, opting for the faster and ligh-terGlock17 for its sidearm.

TheDefenseMinistry saidFridayit has signeda$13.6million contractfor more than 25,000 of the Austri-an-made pistols.

It joins a host of law enforcementagencies and other militaries — in-cluding the Dutch, Norwegian andAustrian armies — opting for aGlock 17, which has a larger maga-zine than the Browning currently inuse by the United Kingdom’s armedforces.

Britain’s Defense Ministry saidthe decision to abandon the Brown-ing came after it became increasing-ly expensive to maintain the steel-framed pistol as its parts — frombarrels and slides to trigger mecha-nisms and springs—wore out.

“When it cameout in the1960s, itwas a fantastic pistol, but technolo-gy advances,” said Warrant Officer 1Mark Anderson, who tested thesidearms competing for the U.K.contract after the Defense Ministryput out a tender for a replacementpistol two years ago.

The faster and more accurateGlocks are considered a boon fortroops increasingly facing threats inclose quarters, like in Afghanistan,

where soldiers are clearing com-pounds and also dealing with therisks of insider attacks.

Anderson said the Glock earnedthe confidence of the troops andpassed tests of extreme tempera-tures and climates “with flying col-ors.”

The Glocks are being issued assecondary weapons, mostly for per-sonal protection, in case theprimaryfirearm, a rifle, fails or soldiers are inclose environments, like compound-clearing operations, where short-barreled weapons are considered asmarter choice.

In addition to their durabilityand extra firepower — the Glockmagazine capacity is 17 rounds,compared with the Browning’s 13—the new pistols are quicker on thedraw.

While theBrowninghadamanu-al safety catch that needed to beswitched off, with the Glock “youjust draw it and engage,” Col. PeterWalden told reporters gathered at aLondon military barracks to see thenew weapons. That’s because theGlockhas three internal safeties and

can be kept loaded in a holster, un-like the Browning, Walden said.Saving those vital one or two sec-onds could be the difference be-tween life anddeath, he said.

“If you’re in a panic situation andit’s the last thing you’re going to doto save your life, you don’t want tohave to start thinking about toomany steps,” he explained.

The Defense Ministry said theGlocks should be deployed in Af-ghanistan by the latter part of 2013.

The Glock’s polymer frame alsolends itself to customizations thatweren’t available with the Brown-ing, like three different grip sizes.Plus, flashlights and laser sights canbe added to its rail.

Soldiers have already takennote.“The easiest way to say it is we’ve

been driving around in a Fiesta andnow we’ve got a Ferrari,” Sgt. SteveLord, a weapons inspector, shoutedover the soundof gunfire at theLon-don media event. While the Brown-ing “got the job done,” he said, “nowwe’re going towork in style.”

CassandraVinograd,TheAssociatedPress

U.K. militaryswitching toGlock pistols

BRITAIN

Sidearm is faster, lighterthan the Browning thearmy has used for decades

Photo illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Britain’s Defense Ministry has signed a $13.6 million contract formore than 25,000 Austrian-made Glock 17 pistols, which are fasterand more accurate than the Browning pistols now in use.

SYDNEY — This snake on aplane had a turbulent flight.

Stunned Qantas Airways pas-sengerswatched out theirwindowsThursday as a large python clung

to a plane’s wing during a two-hour flight from Australia’s north-eastern city of Cairns to PapuaNew Guinea.

The 10-foot python fought tostay on the wing, pulling itself for-ward only to be pushed back bythe frigid wind.

Passenger Robert Weber video-taped the struggle and told Aus-

tralia’s Fairfax Media that thewind whipping the snake againstthe side of the plane left a bloodysmear.

The python managed to hangon until the plane landed in PortMoresby, but a Qantas spokesmansaid the creature was dead on ar-rival.

The Associated Press

Big snake on plane’s wing is dead on arrivalAUSTRALIA

Passengers watched pythontry to stay on for 2-hourQantas Airways flight