In this article:
Motor vehicle escort guide.
A person engaged in the business of furnishing a private motor vehicle escort for hire who personally escorts or guides a funeral cortege or overwidth, overlength, or overheight motor vehicle or an employee of a person engaged in the business of furnishing private motor vehicle escort service for hire.
Official police officer’s badge.
A badge of the size, type and design approved for the use of regular police officers.
Private motor vehicle escort agency.
A person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of furnishing private motor vehicle escorts for hire, which employs one or more persons as employees, assistants, clerks or motor vehicle escort guides.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1401)
(a) 
This article shall not apply to regularly employed officers or deputies of the department of public safety, county sheriff, or police department while engaged in escort services when assigned as an official duty by their respective departments.
(b) 
This article shall not apply to escort activities for a funeral cortege provided by a licensed funeral home responsible for the funeral service.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1426)
The police department shall have the following functions, powers and duties:
(1) 
To investigate qualifications of all applicants.
(2) 
To investigate and aid in the prosecution of all violations of this article.
(3) 
To inspect and approve or disapprove motor vehicle equipment used as escort vehicles.
(4) 
To inspect and approve or disapprove the equipment and uniform worn by escort officers.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1412)
The owner of a private motor vehicle escort agency shall employ as escort guides only those persons who are physically and mentally capable to operate a motorcycle for hire and who are 18 years of age or over. It shall be the responsibility of the private motor vehicle escort agency to select competent operators for escort vehicles. An owner of an escort agency shall not employ any person as a motor vehicle escort guide who does not hold a valid state driver’s license with motorcycle endorsement and an escort chauffeur’s license.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1419)
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to prohibit regularly employed officers or deputies of the department of public safety, county sheriff’s or police department from escorting funeral corteges or oversized, overlength, or overwidth vehicles upon the streets and roadways of the city, when assigned as an official duty by their respective department.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1420)
Nothing continued in this article shall be construed as requiring funeral directors or any other person conducting funerals to contract, hire, or employ a private motor vehicle escort service to guide or escort a funeral cortege in the city.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1421)
A funeral escort guide, engaged in furnishing an escort, must use either a two-wheel or three-wheel motorcycle or automobile which is in good mechanical condition and equipped with two lamps that display an amber or a blue light visible from directly in front of the center of the motorcycle. These lamps shall be in addition to those required by state law. An escort vehicle shall not be equipped with a siren. Decals, placards, signs, and insignias which resemble official police officer’s badges or which bear the words “police,” “official,” or “officer” shall not be used on the escort vehicles nor shall the vehicles be painted a color resembling the color of vehicle used by the city police department. No additional equipment may be added after inspection by the police department unless the vehicle is reinspected and approved before use. A motor vehicle used in performing escort services shall be subject to inspection at any time by the chief of police or authorized representative.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1422)
A funeral escort guide shall wear a uniform approved by the chief of police. The uniform shall not resemble in pattern, design, or color that worn by the regular police officers of the city. Funeral escort guides may wear a badge and cap wreath if they desire; provided, that the badge or wreath does not resemble the official police officer’s badge or bear the word “police” or “officer.” Noncommissioned officers’ stripes or commissioned officers’ bars or insignia denoting a rank shall not be worn on the uniform. Funeral escort guides shall not wear a holster, handcuff case or cartridge case. A whistle or flashlight baton may be used at the discretion of the escort guide. An escort guide shall not have on his or her person or on or about his or her escort vehicle any weapon declared to be unlawful by the statutes of the state; provided, however, that peace officers of the city, county, and the state who may be licensed as escort guides may carry authorized weapons concealed on or about their persons or escort vehicles while engaged as motor vehicle escort guides. A person licensed by the state to carry a concealed handgun may carry a concealed handgun pursuant to such authority.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1423)
(a) 
A motor vehicle escort guide shall not engage in a funeral escort service other than that of escorting a funeral procession, consisting of the hearse and cortege from the funeral home, the home of the deceased, or the home of the deceased’s family to the place of service and from the place of service to the place of interment. If a funeral procession enters a roadway, expressway, or freeway which has a minimum posted speed limit, the motor vehicle escort guide shall cease the escort before the procession enters the roadway, expressway or freeway and resume the escort after the procession exits the roadway, expressway, or freeway.
(b) 
A motor vehicle escort guide may escort overheight, overlength, or overwidth vehicles or loads as defined in the state Transportation Code, but only after the chief of police has been notified of each individual escort. The chief of police shall have the authority to designate the route and time of the escort.
(c) 
A licensed motor vehicle escort guide is authorized to lead funeral processions within the city when the procession has been properly identified by the display of a pennant upon the outside of the lead vehicle and the hearse, and all other vehicles have their headlights turned on.
(d) 
All motor vehicles in an escorted funeral procession which have been properly designated shall have the right-of-way over all other vehicles, except fire apparatus, ambulances, and police vehicles, at any roadway intersection within the city, and the procession may be escorted through stop signs or signalized intersections without stopping, but the drivers of the motor vehicles shall exercise due regard for the safety of all approaching vehicles, and funeral processions being escorted shall be subject at all times to the control of police officers of the city. This subsection shall not apply to overheight, overlength, or overwidth vehicles or loads as defined in the Texas Transportation Code, which shall obey all traffic laws and traffic-control devices.
(e) 
Funeral processions shall travel as closely to the right edge of the roadway as practical and at a safe and prudent speed.
(f) 
Funeral escort guides shall not stop traffic approaching from the opposite direction or force or direct traffic to move off the roadway; however, oncoming traffic may be stopped at intersections and other places to assist the cortege in making left turns.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1424)
A person engaged in the business of furnishing private motor vehicle escorts for hire or an employee of a private motor vehicle escort agency shall not distribute, present, or give away a card, handbill, or printed matter of any kind which bears the word “police,” “official,” or “officer” in conjunction with advertising an escort service; nor shall any advertisement state, imply or misrepresent that a private motor vehicle escort service is required by the police department, the city or by any of its ordinances.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1425)