Texas Penal Code 38.15: Interference with Public Duties, Defenses, and Penalties

Texas Penal Code Section 38.15 makes it a Class B misdemeanor to interrupt, disrupt, impede, or otherwise interfere with certain public servants performing their duties, when you do so with criminal negligence. The statute reaches further than most people assume, covering not only peace officers but also firefighters, EMS workers, utility employees, animal control officers, public health inspectors, and law enforcement animals. A conviction carries up to 180 days in county jail and a fine of up to $2,000. One important limit built into the law: speech alone cannot be the basis for a charge.¹

What the Statute Prohibits

A charge under Section 38.15 requires two things working together: an act that interrupts, disrupts, impedes, or otherwise interferes with one of the protected activities, and a culpable mental state of criminal negligence.

Criminal negligence is a lower bar than intent or knowledge. Under Texas Penal Code Section 6.03, you act with criminal negligence when you should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that your conduct would cause a particular result, and your failure to recognize that risk is a gross departure from what a reasonable person would do.² You do not have to mean to get in anyone’s way. Parking across a fire lane without thinking, or walking into an active scene because you were not paying attention, can satisfy the mental element.

The interference also has to have a real effect. Standing on a sidewalk 50 feet from a traffic stop is not interference. Stepping between an officer and the person being detained is. The work does not have to stop completely; a meaningful interruption or slowdown is enough.¹

Who the Law Protects

The statute lists eight categories of people and activities:

Peace officers performing a lawful duty or exercising legal authority. This is the broadest category and where most charges fall.
Emergency medical services personnel, including those providing patient transport.
Firefighters actively fighting a fire or investigating its cause.
Law enforcement animals, such as K-9s or horses, being used under the supervision of a peace officer, corrections officer, or jailer. You must know the animal is being used for law enforcement, corrections, or jail security purposes.
Emergency radio communications, specifically citizen’s band radio transmissions used to report or ask about an emergency.
Animal control officers performing duties under the Health and Safety Code.
Public health, environmental, radiation, and safety inspectors who are actively investigating a site and following that site’s safety and security procedures.
Utility company employees or agents performing work within the scope of their job.¹

The utility category often surprises people. Blocking a crew from restoring power after a storm, or preventing a water department employee from reaching a meter, can trigger the same statute that covers interfering with a police officer. Section 38.15 does not specifically cover process servers, court-appointed medical examiners, or private contractors doing government work; other statutes may apply to those situations, but this one does not.

When Speech Is a Defense

Section 38.15(d) provides a full defense to prosecution if the alleged interference consisted entirely of speech. Yelling at an officer, asking questions during a traffic stop, verbally criticizing how a firefighter is handling a scene, or narrating what you see on video are forms of speech that cannot be prosecuted under this statute.¹

The line between protected speech and conduct is narrower than it might seem. In Barnes v. State (2006), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that a mother who shouted at her child to run from a police officer could not invoke the defense. Her words were a command designed to prompt someone else to act, and the court treated that kind of directive as a verbal act rather than protected speech.³

You can express disagreement, ask why something is happening, and record. Telling someone else to run, resist, or physically obstruct is where the defense stops applying. Recording police in public is separately protected activity under the First Amendment and does not fall within Section 38.15 on either ground, as long as your position and distance do not themselves physically obstruct the officer.

Other Defenses and Presumptions in the Statute

Subsection (c) protects conduct intended to warn drivers about a nearby peace officer enforcing traffic laws. Flashing your headlights to alert oncoming cars to a speed trap is the classic example. The defense applies only to interference with peace officers enforcing traffic-related provisions of the Transportation Code.

Subsection (d-1) runs the other direction. It creates a rebuttable presumption that you interfered with a peace officer if you intentionally publicized the officer’s home address, home phone number, emergency contact information, Social Security number, or other personal information protected under the Texas Public Information Act. The state does not have to independently prove interference once it shows that kind of disclosure; the burden shifts to you to rebut it. Licensed radio and television stations are exempt from the presumption.¹

Penalties and Collateral Consequences

Interference with public duties is a Class B misdemeanor. Under Section 12.22, the maximum punishment is 180 days in county jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.⁴ First-time offenders rarely see the maximum. Judges often impose community supervision, and for a Class B misdemeanor a court can order up to 100 hours of community service.⁵

A conviction creates a criminal record that appears on background checks, which can affect employment, professional licensing, and housing. For anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, even a misdemeanor conviction can carry immigration consequences, including deportation, denial of naturalization, or ineligibility for certain benefits. Those downstream effects are often the reason a charge that looks minor on paper is worth defending seriously, especially when a deferred adjudication or dismissal might keep the conviction off your record.

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 38.15 – Interference With Public Duties
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 6.03 – Definitions of Culpable Mental States
3
Justia Law. Barnes v. State – 2006 – Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Decisions
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.22 – Class B Misdemeanor
5
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 42A.304 – Community Service