High speed chases, asset forfeiture, civil commitment and remembering 'Pottygate'

Here are a few items whch haven't made it into independent posts, aren't likely to in the busy week ahead, but which merit Grits readers' attention:

• Read Texas Monthly's Dan Solomon on "The Causality of High Speed Police Chases"
• Check out a San Angelo Standard Times editorial titled, "Curbing asset forfeiture abuse"
• From the Houston Chronicle, "Harris County's two largest police agencies are testing body cameras on officers but refuse to release their policies detailing when the cameras should be turned on and off to maximize accountability and minimize intrusiveness."
• Chron columnist Lisa Falkenberg asked, "If costly border surge is working, where's the proof?"
• Mike Ward and Anita Hassan from the Houston Chronicle offer initial details on what a revamped and perhaps renamed sex offender civil commitment program might look like under legislation soon to be proposed by state Sen. John Whitmire. Judge Seiler would see his duties over the program eliminated and distributed among other judges and a new lockup facility would be opened near Houston to house these offenders who've served their full sentences but are subject to additional punishment post-sentence under the guise of treating their underlying desires, with the caveat that no one has ever been deemed by the program to be successfully treated. 
• As Texas prepares to consider raising the age at which youth are tried as adults from 17 to 18, the Dallas News has published several stories describing how the Dallas County jail presently handles those offenders, describing conditions at the jail for 17 year olds, and assessed several, related juvenile justice issues facing the 84th Legislature.
• In reaction to this Grits post on state Rep. Debbie Riddle's bill to criminalize entering a restroom labeled for the opposite sex, a commenter reminded me of "Pottygate" from the early '90s which was handled by the Legislature quite differently.