Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN - Texas Department of Public Safety officers not only pressed for more security at the Governor's Mansion before an arson fire, one warned a staffing shortage weakened security at the state Capitol, according to DPS documents.

"Our troopers are constantly being pulled away from their primary responsibility, which is to maintain public safety and security at the Capitol," Sgt. Adam Kinslow, assigned to the Capitol, said in a May 29 memo, 10 days before the June 8 Governor's Mansion fire.

The documents consisting of dozens of DPS e-mail exchanges indicate concerns dating back to last fall about inadequate security at the mansion and more recent complaints about trooper reassignments that exacerbated staff shortages.

Capitol troopers were diverted to the Governor's Mansion and Honor Guard details, Texas Supreme Court and Operation Border Star - with the latter posing a particular problem - wrote Kinslow in the memo, which was among documents released Tuesday to the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News under the Texas Public Information Act.

"Not only do we not have the manpower to spare, many of the troopers we are sending to the border lack current training and recent experience in patrol procedures, which is unsafe for them and the public. By sending troopers to Operation Border Star, security is weakened at the Capitol," Kinslow wrote.

Kinslow complained to Lt. Ken Scheer that two troopers were taken away from Capitol duties for the Governor's Mansion, another two for the Honor Guard, and one each for the Supreme Court and Operation Border Star, a border security program.

"There are several days security coverage is lacking due to these assignments," Kinslow wrote.

DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said the Capitol isn't in danger and that troopers sent to the border are properly trained.

Trooper morale, however, is "terrible," said Don Dickson, lawyer for the Texas State Troopers Association.

Deployment of state troopers to properly protect the Governor's Mansion, the state Capitol, the border and Texas highways remains a management issue for DPS officials, Perry spokesman Robert Black said.

"Like all Texans, the governor expects our law enforcement agency to properly allocate resources to protect Texans' lives and Texas property," Black said. "Perhaps the trooper making the complaint was unaware that since at least 2002, DPS management has failed to fill over 100 commissioned officer vacancies each year and currently have 260 officer positions unfilled."

The governor agrees with those calling for a "thorough structural overhaul to not only ensure that a tragedy like this does not occur again, but that our state is able to meet new threats in a post 9/11 world," Black said.

Troopers protecting the Governor's Mansion clamored for more help to beef up security at the 152-year-old national historic landmark during a massive repair and renovation project, saying trooper strength still was needed although Gov. Perry and his wife, Anita, had moved out to allow the project to proceed.

One trooper stood watch at the time of the mansion fire - and that trooper had completed an eight-hour shift at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum earlier in the day.

The DPS documents included a Sept. 24, 2007, memo from Lt. David Armistead of the Governor's Protective Detail noting that he had recommended "having a minimum of two troopers per eight-hour shift, 24 hours a day and a Sergeant supervise the same" even during the repair project.

Instead, he wrote that "the chain of command's current recommendation" was for "one trooper working a 12-hour shift and then being relieved by a second trooper working the next 12-hour shift, thus providing 24-hour coverage."

"The consequences of not providing a secure property can have a negative impact on our department, the Governor's Office and the safety of the First Family," Armistead wrote in a memo to Capt. Dale Avant.

DPS has some 3,700 authorized slots for full-time commissioned officers, of which 250 are vacant.

Of those vacancies, 108 will be filled when the next class graduates in August.