Can HISD police pull you over anywhere in Houston? Here’s what the school district says about its officers’ jurisdiction and traffic stops.
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A Houston driver who got pulled over by a Houston ISD police officer on the East Beltway was surprised to learn just how far the district’s police jurisdiction extends.
The encounter raised a question that may surprise other Texas drivers: Can an HISD police officer pull you over miles from a school campus—even outside Houston city limits?
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The answer, according to HISD officials, is yes.
“HISD Police Department officers have jurisdiction throughout Harris County and may enforce state laws throughout the county, including conducting traffic stops when appropriate,” a spokesperson said via email.
A spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office also confirmed that law enforcement agencies can present cases to the office, which then determines whether charges will be accepted or denied.
The clarification comes after David Vasquez shared his own run-in with an HISD cop on X after he was pulled over for speeding.
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“[The officer] informed me that he could arrest me [sic] he had the right to pull me over and that even though we were on the East Beltway, it was within its jurisdiction,” David Vasquez wrote. “He then explained to me that all of Harris County is an HISD police officer’s jurisdiction and he can enforce the law in that whole area.”
@FOX26Houston I was pulled over by a HISD police officer today for speeding. He informed me that he could arrest me he had the right to pull me over and that even though we were on the East Beltway it was within its jurisdiction. He then explained to me that all of Harris county… pic.twitter.com/fCycnq1Q5x
— David Vasquez (@DavidHousTex) August 17, 2026
‘You’re an HISD officer’
Vasquez told Chron the encounter seemed odd because he makes the commute daily, but on this particular day, the HISD officer appeared to be holding up traffic near the Pearland Parkway exit on the East Beltway.
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“He basically has his hands out the door at the window and he’s telling other drivers to slow down,” Vasquez recalled. “So you’ve got about 10 cars behind him that he’s holding back, basically.”
Can HISD police pull you over anywhere in Houston? Here’s what the school district says about its officers’ jurisdiction and traffic stops.
Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer
When it was his turn to pass the officer, that’s when Vasquez was directed to pull over.
“He pulls up right next to me; he starts yelling at me,” Vasquez said.
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Vasquez said he initially questioned whether an HISD officer could even conduct a traffic stop in the area.
“I said, ‘You’re an HISD officer,'” Vasquez quipped. “That’s a constable area; it doesn’t lie inside Houston city limits. I’ve looked at that map before and I mean, he wasn’t even in Houston; he was in unincorporated Harris County.”
Even after learning that HISD says its officers have countywide jurisdiction, Vasquez remained frustrated by the encounter.
“They’re meant to be policing around schools; it’s authoritarian. It’s crazy,” he said. “It was absolutely targeted. He was flagging everybody down out the window and had a parade of cars behind him. So I decided to pass him because he literally had his hand out and he was telling people to stop because he did not want anybody passing him.”
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Vasquez said he believed the officer had been specifically targeting him.
“I do feel like he targeted me. I’ve got a black Porsche and maybe he didn’t like that,” Vasquez said.
He said he was particularly confused because the officer appeared to be slowing down multiple vehicles before stopping him.
“I know my rights, though…but you got a bottleneck of cars behind you; it makes no sense to me, especially for an HISD police officer. What business does he have?”
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So, how far can school police go?
HISD’s authority is broader than many drivers might expect, but not every school district police department in Texas necessarily has the same geographic jurisdiction.
Under Texas Education Code §37.081, a school district’s board of trustees determines the jurisdiction of its commissioned peace officers. Within that jurisdiction, those officers have the “powers, privileges, and immunities” of peace officers and may enforce municipal, county and state laws. The law also allows districts to enter agreements with political subdivisions that expand an officer’s jurisdiction to the territory covered by that entity.
In other words, Texas law does not limit school district police officers to school campuses. But it also does not automatically give every ISD police department jurisdiction across an entire county.
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HISD says its officers’ jurisdiction extends throughout Harris County.
David Vasquez told Chron he initially questioned whether an HISD officer could even conduct a traffic stop in the area.
David Vasquez
HISD police authority has drawn scrutiny before
The question of what HISD officers can do outside traditional school settings has come up before, although under very different circumstances.
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The Houston Chronicle and New York Times reported in January that HISD investigated one of its officers after an off-duty 2024 crash in which the officer activated emergency lights, took another driver’s passport and gave instructions that the department later said amounted to detaining the driver.
An internal memo called for counseling on “the distinction between [the officer’s] role as a police officer and [his] responsibilities as a citizen in non-enforcement situations.”
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The Harris County District Attorney’s Office ultimately declined to file charges.
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For Vasquez, however, the East Beltway encounter remains frustrating—and, he said, emblematic of what he sees as an increasingly intrusive approach to policing.
“Everybody’s always watching us. We got flock cameras everywhere. Now we got HISD officers running us down for speeding tickets. freaking ridiculous,” he said. Then he joked, “I feel like I was in high school and I was running from the truancy officer all over again.”