AUSTIN, Texas — The chief of Texas state police, Col. Steve McCraw, announced his retirement at the end of the year, following scrutiny over the police response to the tragic Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022. His announcement was made during a graduation ceremony for new state troopers in Austin.
Serving as the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety since 2009, McCraw did not detail his reasons for stepping down. In a letter to agency employees, he commended their bravery but refrained from discussing the Uvalde incident or other specific events from his tenure.
McCraw was not present during the May 2022 attack in which 19 students and two teachers lost their lives. He labeled the police response an “abject failure” yet resisted pressure from victims’ families and lawmakers to resign post-incident. Approximately 90 troopers under his command were among nearly 400 officers who took more than 70 minutes to confront the shooter inside the classroom, leading to critical state and federal reports highlighting failures in training, communication, and leadership.
State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, criticized McCraw for not resigning following the massacre. He stated that McCraw’s failure to act during the incident would define his legacy.
In the days following the shooting, McCraw became emotional while discussing emergency calls from students trapped inside the classroom, placing responsibility for the delayed response on the local schools police chief, who was deemed the incident commander.
Two former officers related to the incident have faced charges of child abandonment and endangerment but have pleaded not guilty. The former Uvalde schools police chief, who claims he was unfairly blamed, stated he should not have been considered in charge.
Recently, McCraw reinstated one of the few troopers disciplined over the Uvalde response, while families of the victims have initiated a $500 million lawsuit against the police.
Additionally, the Texas Department of Public Safety has been pivotal in Governor Greg Abbott’s multi-billion dollar “Operation Lone Star,” aimed at addressing migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. The agency also led recent law enforcement actions concerning campus protests at the University of Texas relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Abbott praised McCraw, calling him a distinguished law enforcement officer and a quintessential representative of Texas law enforcement.
