Dallas Police Chief David Brown delivered sobering statistics about the city’s skyrocketing crime rates at Dallas City Hall on Monday, March 28. The chief revealed homicide rates spiked over 80 percent from the same time last year. Then, he unveiled a controversial plan to tackle the problem, which left some in law enforcement calling for Brown to step down.
The city’s top cop called an 86 percent increase in murder “unacceptable.” He said violent crime was up 22 percent and overall crime, which includes violent and property crimes, jumped 6 percent.
To combat these profound crime rate increases, Brown unveiled a plan for the Dallas Police Department to move nearly 600 officers to task forces focusing on drugs, domestic violence, and violent crime. He told WFAA 8 (ABC): “We are bringing the full force of the police department to bear on this spike in crime.” He said Dallas PD is determined to keep the citizens of Dallas safe.
The plan also calls for moving officers to evening shifts, and deploying a rotating foot patrol of 700 projected officers to high crime areas to show a stronger police presence. Brown stated many officers will work on weekends or during the late hour shift when these types of crimes occur.
“Most importantly, we are asking our officers to make additional sacrifices and to continue to put their lives on the line to stave off violent crime and arrest violent criminals in a year when officer deaths and injuries due to ambushes and assaults by suspects are on the rise in Dallas, North Texas, and throughout the country,” Brown stated in a Dallas PD press release.
The uptick in crime and the reorganization plan upset Dallas police unions. It is something they fear will disrupt officers’ personal lives. Two of the four major police unions called for Brown’s resignation, according to KDFW 4 (Fox). In a letter, Black Police Officers Association (BPOA) of Greater Dallas President Lt. Thomas Glover wrote, in part:
“The current atmosphere within the Dallas Police Department is one of vengeance, distrust, retaliation, and failure to employ the most prudent use of manpower. We believe that as a professional organization of police officers, that this has severely crippled the ability to best fight crime. Subsequently, the executive board of the Black Police Association has overwhelmingly voted to reject the continued leadership of this department by David O. Brown. This decision was not hastily made. We attempted at every opportunity possible to work with him, and to provide constructive input to reduce a spiraling crime rate. Since our commitment was to the citizens, and what was best for the protection of laws, and the preservation of property, we felt this decision had to be made without hesitation.”
Glover, who called the well-being and safety of the people of Dallas “our most important responsibility,” recognized the call for Brown to resign could create some division among black officers in the department, but said it was the right decision.
“We cannot sit idly by and support him because he is black,” Glover said. “If he were a white chief of police doing what he’s done in the past five or six months our organization would probably be marching on city hall and picketing right now,” the Dallas Fox affiliate reported.
Morale on the force is low. The Dallas Police Association called for Brown to resign last year.
However, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings indicated he fully supports Brown telling KDFW 5: “I’m a big fan of Chief Brown. He’s the best chief in the United States of America, I‘ve felt, and one of the reasons is he’s not afraid to deal with tough issues.”
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