My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas
Last June, a County Sheriff who I know on a social basis, suggested that we call the Sheriff's Dept. the next time my neighbors dogs broke into our yard, the dogs in question had previously broken into our yard by either digging holes and going under the fence and later snapping off a picket at the bottom and coming into our yard, on one occasion they confronted my 2 year old son before my wife chased them back through the fence, the dogs also got out and came on our front porch and in our garage where they were very aggressive with my wife. (we have since learned the neighbor on the other side was pinned in his house after the dogs broke our) In July of 2008, my daughter found our rabbit who had been in a locked cage dead in the yard, we went over to the cage and there were tracks circling the cage, the cage was knocked over and there was evidence of another broken picket, the neighbor took the broken part and reattached and put some more wood up (I have pictures of everything) This was on a Saturday, on Sunday I called my friend the Sherrif who did not answer his phone or call me back, I called the Sheriff and an Officer came to our home about an hour later, he said the he was the designated Dangerous Animal Control Officer for the County, based on the numerous new pickets that represented each break-in, he said our neighbors would have to carry additional insurance on each dog and he would designate them as dangerous dogs, he spent about ten minutes in our back yard. He then went to the neighbors and after about 30 minutes I noticed him in their front yard and the Sheriff and my neigbors were laughing, he came back over and said he wanted to do a handshake deal, he would oversee the construction of a new fence interior to my fence to stop the dogs from coming in our back yard, he would in turn not make them carry addtional insurance or deem their dogs as dangerous, I felt bad since they are my neighbors, so I agreed that this sounded OK if the fence was going to be built and construction would be managed by the Sheriff. Late that day I answered our home phone, the Sheriff was very angry and asked to speak to my wife, she had called for him without my knowledge to ask why he was letting them off, he explained that their 8 year old boy had accidentally left the kennell open and the dogs where never out and that I had not told him that our own dog had harrased them and actually gone in their home, he was very cold, loud and rude. (Our neighbors are both nurses, he is a Medical Flight Nurse and she is a surgery nurse at the local hospital, it never occurred to me in town of 50,000 that the nurses would know the Sheriff's Deputy, the Male Flight nurse is at accidents all the time with the Sheriff's Dept.) The dogs are constantly out of the kennel (whenever she's home and he's working, and our 5 lb puppy MOJO had been gone since February 08, yes he had squeezed through the gate and ran over to play with the neighbors kids and they had taken him in their house to play with and then they brought him back. That Sunday afternoon the neighbor fastened metal hog panel to my wooden fence (that's on my property), I called the Sheriff to tell him that was not acceptable per our agreement, he promised to come by, I called my friend the Sheriff and he made the Deputy call me, he said he was very busy and promised to come the next Tuesday or Thursday, he never came back. On the following day, Monday, a very reliable source (CPS exact words) were contacted and we were turned in for neglect, one mal-nourished child, rodent infestation and an unreported bathroom wall collapse on one of our children. Needless to say we have been throught a year of horror, moving our of our home (we are know back) huge legal fees, CPS clearing us of any neglect or abuse but some how changing the names of two of our six children in their report. We have watched all of our neighbors kids ( while the neighbors went out or at baseball practice) included their kid's on my baseball teams, loaned them benadryl at 3:00 AM when one of their kids had an allergic reaction, hired my off duty flight nurse neighbor to help with landscaping around the house and purchased custom knives he made for my clients for several hundred dollars. We know both of the neighbors parents and they seem to be really good people, we have been to birthday parties and known them 10+ years, these neighbors were practically like family before I called the Sheriff. So here is the question, can we pursue the neighbors (their is another neighbor involved across the street from us) and the sheriff as one unit, or do we need to pursue each party seperately? I have also considered sending the parents an account of this, we are not sure what their children have told them to explain our sudden dissapearance from their social lives. Our county is known for out of control law enforcement, one of our fine badge wearing officers was just convicted of kidnapping and raping a female that was beat up by her boyfriend, the officer arrested both but took her to a park and raped her, here's the best part, when the officer dropped her back home after he raped her, she called 911, the same officer responded, we have delayed in taking action because we are afraid of retaliation by the Sheriff's department. Is this Civil or Criminal?

