Category: Crime

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Fair Park Raid

Fair Park Raid

An early morning Fair Park raid by the Dallas Police Department in conjunction with the FBI resulted in almost two dozen people being arrested. The raid which included four hundred agents happened west and southwest of Fair Park.

Fair Park Raid Details

Suspects arrested were connected to organized gang activity, including murder and drug sales. Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia in February had referred to drug houses as a detriment.

Fair Park Raid

Despite being one of thirty-five sectors in Dallas, the area where the raid occured makes up ten percent of all violent crime in Dallas. In 2018 there were 10 murders and 315 aggravated assaults in the area. In 2020, murders more than doubled to 23 and Agg Assaults was 485.

Federal authorities, including the FBI, said the area where the raid happened is one of the most violent areas in the Metroplex, and Dallas police said the area makes up 10% of all violent crime across the city. 

An FBI taskforce called “Safer Streets,” was launched to combat violent crime in the area.

Officials with several law enforcement agencies – including the FBI Dallas Field Office; the Dallas Police Department; the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms – all contributed to the investigation and arrests.

In addition to Chief Garcia, FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah, DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Chávez, and ATF Dallas Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Boshek II were all present during the briefing at the FBI Dallas Headquarters.

Shah said they decided to move in now, because they feared the violence would only get worse in the summer months. 

“Dallas is bracing for sure and we watch with alarm as summer will spike in the summer,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah. “But the chaos of the pandemic has made everything even more volatile.”

Shah said the inclusion of federal investigators, and federal charges – which often carry steeper penalties than state charges – acts as a possible deterrent. 

“The know the difference between state time and federal time, and they do not want to get federal time,” Shah explained, saying that the operation today achieved two goals: taking violent criminals off the street and sending a message to would-be-criminals that the Feds are watching.

Chief Garcia added, “the message today for the residents is simple: DPD is not alone in keeping community safe, DPD is not alone in weeding out the criminal element and DPD is not along in seeding the community with hope,” he said.

Last summer when Governor Abbott sent in the Texas Rangers to patrol much of the same area, local City Councilman Adam Bazaldua responded sharply. He was oe of the ringleaders to defund Dallas City Police last summer in favor of bike lanes, art, and solar power programs.

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Northpark Center Update

Dallas Police report the Northpark Center incident earlier was not an active shooter incident, but an invidivual banging his skate board in the mall food court and acting as if he had a firearm.

Dallas police said the gunfire noise at NorthPark Center was the results of a “mentally disturbed individual.”

Northpark Center

The sounds sent shoppers into a panic with many fleeing the scene. DPD reported one person in custody. No one was shot, per Dallas Police, but one person did complain of chest pain secondary to the event.

Dallas Police Respond To Northpark Shooting

Northpark Center Hours

The mall plans to be open for regular hours Tuesday.

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Richardson Police Admit Illegal Quotas

Richardson Police

A Richardson Police Department officer admitted the department was engaging in an illegal quotas practice under the guide of productivity. The practice of quotas is illegal under Texas Transportation Code Sec. 720.002.

The full video can be viewed here:

The officer’s allegations have significant importance to both the department’s own compliance with federal and state law and an ongoing lawsuit against the City of Richardson.

Richardson Police and Texas Transportation Code 720.002

Richardson Police Also Face Federal Police Brutality Lawsuit

In 2018, Neco Bonham, who is Black, was pulled over for a broken tail light which was later proveb false. In that case, the Richardson officer’s body cam video showed Officer Parker Winn escalating the situation fifteen seconds into the incident.

Richardson Police and Texas Transportation Code 720.002

Bonham is now suing the two white police officers as well as the city of Richardson in a federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging racial profiling and excessive force. He claims Winn contrived a bogus reason to stop him in order to search the pickup for drugs simply because he was a “young Black man with a hoodie.”

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has complained that some police continue to improperly use “pretext stops” against minority motorists searching for marijuana.

This testimony in open city council working session indicates police issues exist outside just the City of Dallas and Reneé Hall.

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Two Officers Shot

Officers Shot

Dallas Police Department had two officers shot at an apartment off Bonita per one source. So far Dallas Police PIOs have not confirmed this information as it is an active incident.

Sources state that the two officers are in “stable condition.”

Officers Shot

Officers Shot – SWAT On Scene

Dallas SWAT is on scene and more than twenty units had formed up at a Command Post.

Officers Shot

This follow an incident where officers were shot at earlier in the month leading to the discovery of three dead. In November, officers were attacked near the city border with Mesquite.

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Chief Eddie Garcia: Drug Houses A Detriment

Drug Houses A Detriment

Chief Eddie Garcia came out swinging saying drug houses a detriment to our neighborhoods in a tweet just two days after a Dallas City Council Public Safety committee meeting focused on drug arrests.

Drug Houses A Detriment

Drug houses are a detriment to our city. Today, Dallas SWAT served a warrant at a high risk location. 6 people were arrested for narco. But, it was the 10th time in 3 yrs we’ve hit this location. My message to landlords: Be warned, be responsible or we WILL hold YOU accountable.

On Monday, new Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia halted a resolution to stop arrests for small amounts of marijuana at his very first Public Safety Committee meeting.

A City Council resolution against arrests for less than two ounces of marijuana has been under review for months since Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot began refusing to prosecute those cases.

Drug Houses A Detriment To More Than Neighborhoods

During the meeting Garcia noted, “The real victims were those businesses in that area that have to struggle with drug dealers posting up in front of their business and having a 24-hour weed sale in front of their businesses. That is something that certainly affects our city.”

Drug Houses A Detriment

Dallas Police Monitor Tonya McClary, who runs the Officer of Community Police Oversight, said 6,000 misdemeanor cases last year, including many for small amounts of marijuana, unfairly targeted African Americans. She complained these arrests leave them with harmful criminal records.

Garcia said you can not arrest your way our of crime and that he intends to have a new violent crime plan by April.

Garcia has been on the job for only one week, but faces an uphill battle with three dead this weekend in an apartment shooting. He is also not following in the steps of his predecessor, Reneé Hall, who was cozy with violent criminals leading to her leaving early after it was disclosed.

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Three Dead In Northeast Dallas

Three Dead In Northeast Dallas

Tonight three dead in Northeast Dallas after Dallas Police Department officers responded to a reported active shooter.

Dallas Police had been called to the active shooter incident in the 9800 block of Summerwood Circle at 4:30 p.m.

Three Dead In Northeast Dallas

As officers approached the scene, one of their vehicles were hit and they retreated to safety and activated SWAT.

Officers entered the scene after 7:00 p.m. finding two dead women and a dead man at the incident. Per reports, Dallas Police did not fire their weapons.

Three Dead In Northeast Dallas – Hard Start For Eddie Garcia’s Tenure

Chief Garcia was introduced to Dallas in late December after his selection and he has been on the job for less than a week. Reducing violent crime was task number one for the new chief after his predecessor saw crime rates skyrocket.

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Two Shot In Pleasant Grove Convenience Store Incident

Pleasant Grove

Two people were shot Monday afternoon in a Pleasant Grove convenience store incident.

Dallas Police Department officials said it happened Monday afternoon at the Mini Mart on Scyene Road near North St. Augustine Drive.

Pleasant Grove

The two victims are in stable condition at a local hospital and police are not commenting further on motive.

Pleasant Grove Convenience Store Incident – Just One More?

While the shooting was happening, D7 Council Member Adam Bazaldua was tweeting about race issues with COVID19 vaccination sites.

Pleasant Grove

He was a leading voice on defunding Dallas Police Department in summer of 2020, but a campaign insider said he is terrified of Kevin Felder or Tiffinni Young jumping into the D7 council race.

“Adam is dismissing Not My Son’s Tramonica Brown,” said another source.

The final budget partially defunded police overtime, but removed some of the pork projects that had been substituted originally.

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Zephi Trevino Certification Hearing Today

Certification Hearing

The certification hearing on whether Zephi trevino will be tried as an adult will be held today.

Certification Hearing

Justin Moore is representing the Trevino family.

The focus of the story: 17-year-old Zephaniah “Zephi” Trevino and 19-year-old Philip Baldenegro. Both have been accused in the deadly shooting that happened in August 2019.

The young girl claims she isn’t guilty. Her family has said she was being sex trafficked by Baldenegro.

David Finn, Baldenegro’s attorney called the sex trafficking allegations a “smoke screen.”

Beyond The Certification Hearing

Beyond the certification hearing, Trevino’s case has attracted Hollywood attention from Jamie Lee Curtis, Demi Lovato, and now, Kim Kardashian West.

It has also attracted attention of political activists angry that Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot shared a Facebook post of another defense attorney stating why Trevino should be tried as an adult.

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Who Made Call To Rescind?

Rescind

Who made the call to rescind yesterday’s memo about Dallas Police dispatch and who made the call to issue it unsigned? Those are the questions Dallas is asking this morning.

The second day of the New Year was a communications debacle as an unsigned memo came to light stating several calls with potential for violence would not be dispatched. Among them were burglary of a motor vehicle, runaways, and incidents involving child custody.

Rescind Statement And Investigation

Council Member Jennifer Staubach Gates issued her own statement against the dispatch orders stating the matter was internal and draft in nature. She said it was “premature for DPD to initiate these changes before briefing the Public Safety Committee and before the new Chief begins.”

Rescind

Chief Garcia is scheduled to start work sometime in February and the next Public Safety Committee meeting is scheduled for January 11, 2021 at 1:00pm.

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