Dallas Police First Amendment Policy: Make It Up As You Go

The Dallas Police First Amendment policy appears to be make it up as you go.

On Wednesday, local newshound Avi Adelman posted he got a tip about a shooting in East Dallas and went to the scene.

As noted in his Facebook post, an officer stopped him – a freelance member of the local media community from approaching – despite other civilians being in the immediate area.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit arrested Adelman several years ago for photographing an incident in the public eye which cost taxpayers a six figure settlement due to that officer’s aggressiveness.

Public Information Officers for Dallas Police initially stated they “will work on it” when asked why officers had responded as they did. In a follow up, another PIO provided a copy of the Department General Order, but also would not answer what training failures existed on the issue of First Amendment civil rights.

Dallas Police Academy has a history of problems including Lieutenant Brian William Deininger, an officer assigned to teach Field Sobriety training, but who was found unresponsive in his car slurring his words when police and EMS showed up in Irving, Texas.

Dallas Police First Amendment Policy

The Dallas Police force appears to be shizophrenic on the issue of civil rights protections.

In summer 2020, officers actively assaulted civilian protestors and bystanders during the George Floyd protests locally. More recently, they have allowed far right, white protestors to disrupt the school day at Dallas ISD’s Dealey Montessori campus.

Additionally, the Dallas Police Department is not responding to public information requests blaming COVID19 – another transparency issue in a department with increasing problems relating to the public they “serve” while also hiding crime data from citizens, crime watch groups, and journalists.