Q: My girl called the cops on me and they gave me an incident report number, does this mean I have a record

A: I do not believe you have a record, but the local police department may well have kept a mental note (or actual note) and will see if they get called to your house again. Here is why I think that is true.

First, Texas and Houston in particular has long had a "zero tolerance" policy towards domestic violence. Even if the alleged victim decides she does not want to prosecute, the State will prosecute the case anyway. "Zero tolerance means the police will make an arrest without exception after a family argument if they have probable cause to believe any bodily injury has occurred." http://www.paulstuckle.com/InformationCenter/DomesticViolence/DomesticViolenceLegalFacts.aspx

In Houston, the zero tolerance policy made national news when, Warren Moon, former quarterback of the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings was charged with domestic violence assault in July 1995. The case captured national attention as his wife, the alleged victim, Felicia Moon did not want to testify or pursue charges. The prosecution forced Felicia Moon to testify after the Texas Legislature amended and limited the "husband-wife" privilege. Prior to the change in the law, a spouse could elect not to be a witness for the state to testify against the other spouse. It took the jury 27 minutes to acquit Warren Moon of the assault but the wife still says it was a very painful time in her life.

As Paul Stuckle's post above states, the State prosecutes anyway. Unless you talked with the DA, I find it very unlikely (perhaps close to impossible) that the police actually talked with the District Attorney's office. In addition, the Supreme Court has held that nothing in the Constitution prohibits the police from lying to you so often they do for their own reasons.

In this case, I think the police used their discretion not to move forward because they knew that there were no repercussions if they acted in the way they did.

I would also expect that you will be treated very harshly if another telephone call is made. Probable cause can be satisfied by one person's testimony even if that person says she does not want to press charges. If another call is made, I would expect you to be arrested and charged with the maximum crime possible. If I am correct in what happened here, the police will feel justified because they were nice to you once and you don't get a second chance.

A: Mr. Lehman's response is very good. I would add that, although this does not mean you have a criminal record, there ARE records with your name on them. The responding law enforcement agency recorded the incident in their database under that report number. The 911 call, dispatch log, and any audio or video captured by the officer's BodyCam or wireless lapel microphone will be cross-referenced to the report number. The report itself will contain the responding officer's account of why he or she chose NOT to make an arrest. These are not the type of records that are reported to the state police (DPS) or the FBI.

Background check companies don't tend to go after this type of information because there are a couple of applicable law enforcement exceptions to the Texas Public Information Act that can be used to justify withholding it from an open records request. So you probably don't have to worry about public disclosure unless the laws change at some point in the future.

Texas has an offense named "Continuous Family Violence" for two misdemeanor-level domestic violence events within a 12-month period. This is a third degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in the state penitentiary and a fine up to $10,000. So expect this incident to be dredged up and revived if anything else happens between you and the alleged victim.