Dallas crime up and DPD overtime is down per a Dallas City Council vote earlier which removed additional funds from the Dallas City budget.
City Council is putting the finishing touches on next year’s budget which will be finalized on September 22, 2021.
The biggest fireworks were when Dallas Police Department’s overtime budget was cut by $10M and moved into city reserves awaiting results of an audit. The vote was 8-7 in favor of defunding the department and ignores recent failures of officer availability to respond to three children assaulted last week.
Crime Up And DPD Overtime Down – Again
Citizens can still contact their member of City Council prior to the final vote on September 22, 2021.
The evidence in the Bazaldua ethics hearing is coming next Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at 10:00AM by videoconference.
Adam Bazadula, City Council Member for District 7, is accused by Pamela Grayson that he violated city ethics code by making personal attacks against Grayson on Facebook. He also removed his co-sponsorship of an Earth Day event she was organizing.
Grayson’s complaint says Bazaldua had park rangers and police waiting on vendors who were arriving at the event. The complaint states Bazaldua was overheard saying that he does not come to South Dallas because “the risk outweighs the reward.”
Grayson argued Bazaldua’s actions are in violation of Dallas code of ethics rules stating council members must act with integrity and treat others with respect and must be responsible with taxpayer resources.
Bazaldua Ethics Hearing Comes After Tough Re-election
Bazaldua faced more opponents than any other sitting member of Dallas City Council. Additionally, one of his opponents was endorsed by the sitting US Congresswoman and State Senator for the area.
Keep Dallas Safe (KDS) failed in spectacular fashion at protecting the political strength of Eric Johnson as polls closed on the Dallas City Council election.
While not directly linked, observers noted that KDS was pushing candidates supportive of Eric Johnson’s agenda including pushing out current city council incumbents Jaime Resensez (D5), Adam Bazaldua (D7), and Paula Blackmon (D9).
They sent multiple mailers which some described as “klanlike” and direct from “MAGA World” – a reference to previous support for Donald Trump.
In District 5, Mayor Johnson supported Yolanda Williams who came in third missing the run off, and in District 7 he supported Donald Parish Jr., who also had the endorsements of Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson and State Senator Royce West.
Keep Dallas Safe – Another North Dallas Astroturf Operation?
Earlier this year, Dallas Observer noted Daniel Taylor was linked to a similar astroturf operation in New Orleans where actors were paid to attend public meetings.
In the Dallas City Council elections, Keep Dallas Safe also opposed Paula Blackmon who easily cruised to re-election against two opponents avoiding a run off in Elections 2021. They also chose to attack Jaynie Schultz in D11.
It is unclear how active KDS will be involved with run offs in District 7 and District 11. The other major winner was Chad West who also won his re-election easily.
One campaign staff member stated they were already gearing up for his mayoral run in two years. West has been increasingly outspoken including taking exception with staff over COVID19 vaccine rollouts. Given Johnson’s recent record, there are rumors he may not run for re-election.
It was attacked by County Judge Clay Jenkins as potentially illegal and now Texas has agreed.
In a strongly worded email to Commissioners, Texas health officials said, “While we ask hub providers to ensure the vaccine reaches the hardest-hit areas and populations, solely vaccinating people who live in those areas is not in line with the agreement to be a hub provider,” wrote Imelda Garcia, an associate commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
She continues, “If Dallas County is unable to meet these expectations, we will be forced to reduce the weekly vaccine allocation … and no longer consider it a hub provider.”
In addition to the state action at least two attorneys were preparing motions to stop the new vaccine rollout.
COVID19 Politics At 1500 Marilla
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Johnson sent a terse memo to City Manager TC Broadnax regarding city vaccination rollout and individual council members seeking vaccine registration hubs.
The Mayor’s memo was immediately attacked as another COVID19 politics power grab by Adam Bazaldua in both personal posts and posts to the Other Side DallasFacebook group.
The two City Council colleagues have been described by another City Council member as “the two boys in the sandbox who can’t get along because neither gets enough attention” from their mother.
“They both just complain about the other and neither does his homework,” the source said.
Garcia beat out nearly forty other candidates, including current Dallas commanders. He will be tasked with leading a department that has seen a visible rise in violent crime and a lack of trust from members of the black community.
Tramonica Brown is the founder of Not My Son, a nonprofit group aimed at addressing racial injustice.
She said she wants open communication and says, “I want somebody that’s not afraid to have a dialogue with the community. We’ve lost trust.” Brown said.
“My hope is that this chief is going to come in and really do some things that I know he probably said in those interviews,” she continued. Brown is a candidate for Dallas City Council D7 against incumbent Adam Bazaldua.
Bazaldua meanwhile has had defunding DPD as his chief campaign issue since late May. He was part of the group that promised sweeping reform and a plan to defund DPD, but never attempted to get accountability from Chief Hall for her lack of leadership during the June George Floyd protests or specifically for the use of tear gas during the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge incident where Hall stated no tear gas was used.
In September, Bazaldua and others only defund action was to re-allocate $7M from overtime into other projects like bike lanes and solar panels.
Additionally, Bazaldua’s appointee to the Community Police Oversight Board posted in a social media post, “I’m confident he will serve and protect the residents of Dallas, while remaining open to reasonable and responsible police reforms that benefit the residents of Dallas and our police officers. I am supportive of those balanced goals. Doing > Talking.” He did not reference who was doing versus who was just talking, but this could be a hint of where things will go if public safety is the chief campaign issue across the city and not just D7.
Chief Campaign For New Police Chief: BLM and Race Relations
National headlines regularly highlight the strained relationships between big-city police forces and persons of color, but the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP branch has recognized Chief Eddie Garcia with its annual Cesar Chavez Award for his visibility and accessibility in the city’s neighborhoods.
Jesuorobo Enobakhare is chairman of the Dallas Police Oversight Board. Some critics suggest Enobakhare worked too closely with Chief Hall – interfering in his ability to provide proper oversight. Similar internal allegations came from officers within the department about Chief Hall and Dominique Alexander. It is unclear where Chief Garcia will draw the line.
Enobakhare said, “We can’t just think that a new police chief is going to come in and magically wave a wand and fix things that are wrong in the city,” he said. “It’s going to take leadership from the city council. It’s going to take the leadership of a lot of other entities in order to work together to solve some of these problems.”
Meanwhile D Magazine played grammar police to Chief Garcia’s statement noting he was “humbled by the thought of wearing the DPD uniform.” They described his statement as false modesty and suggested different emotions he should have used, but had no suggestions on lowering the crime rate.
Chief Campaign Issue for Mayor Johnson?
Mayor Eric Johnson’s office issued the statement below. While public safety was not a chief campaign issue prior to his election, he has re-focused attention after winning office.
“I spoke this afternoon with our new police chief, Eddie Garcia, and congratulated him on his selection by the city manager. I hope the people of Dallas will join me in giving him and his family a warm welcome. He will join us after spending four years as the police chief in the 10th-largest city in the country, and he was highly regarded by my counterpart in San Jose, Mayor Sam Liccardo.
“We should celebrate the fact that Chief Garcia will become our first Hispanic police chief. This truly is an historic moment for Dallas.
“But we both understand that what truly matters now is the work ahead of us: making our communities safer and stronger. I expect that he will immediately begin developing plans to fight the unacceptable violent crime increases we have seen in Dallas. We will need our communities’ help in those efforts. Too many lives have been taken in our city. Too many families have been devastated by violence. And too many people in our neighborhoods feel unsafe.
“Law enforcement alone cannot solve the challenges we face, but the hardworking men and women of the Dallas Police Department are integral to combating violence, which disproportionately affects people of color in our city. As policymakers, we must give Chief Garcia the tools that his officers need to keep people safe and continue to push for solutions — such as the programs recommended by the Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities — that can prevent crime without placing additional burdens on the police department. The people of Dallas deserve a city government that puts public safety first.
“I want to thank all the candidates who embraced the challenge of working for the City of Dallas. I look forward to seeing Chief Garcia’s new strategies in action in the months ahead. Working together, we will strive to make Dallas the safest major city in the United States.”
Dallas appears to be repeating the Reneé Hall errors by naming RaShall M. Brackney a finalist for Dallas Police Chief. Hall has officially left her duties as police chief under a cloud of questions from her own officers. She accelerated her departure timeline after we reported on inappropriate behavior between she and convicted felon Dominique Alexander.
In October, the Interim Minister and Board for the Unitarian Universalists of Charlottesville wrote a letter to Brackney – a reported “expert on harm reduction, procedural and restorative justice practices, and community-police relations” about what appears on its face to be a case of racial profiling by her officers. Her response was a press conference where she called for the termination of both the church pastor and the entire board.
Brackney’s full press conference can be seen here.
Brackney comes to Dallas as local neo nazis act with impunity vandalizing city property and Dallas City Council can not decide if they will hold police accountable or just defund them in line with social-justice activists’ wishes.
Meanwhile Brackney is considered a finalist for our top cop role – coming from a department that has a bad history of dealing with protests and counter protests.
Dallas has a long history of protests and Dallas Police in responding, but the thinking of TC Broadnax on this one is confusing – especially given the recent problems with Reneé Hall.
As a person on social media noted “of all the people in the world to go to war with, I feel like “the reverend at the unitarian church” was a bad choice for the Charlottesville Police Department.”
Brackney History
Brackney’s Charlottesville biography states prior to her appointment as the Chief of Police she retired as a 30-year veteran from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and served as the former Chief of Police of the George Washington University.
Comment was sough from Charlottesville Police public information unit, but there has been no response as of time of publish.
There were four unrelated Friday night shootings in approximately twenty-three minutes that Dallas Police responded. The result is two people dead and two more injured.
Friday Night Shootings – A Reflection Of Larger Trend
Dallas has been a hotbed of crime all year long, prior to COVID19 becoming a contributing factor.
Earlier in the year members of City Council cut police overtime for arts and environmental projects despite Dallas’s murder and violent crime rates. Locally Dallas is on pace for more murders this year than last which broke local records.
Despite pledging to serve the remainder of 2020, her resignation was announced earlier today with Lonzo Anderson, appointed Interim Chief of Police starting December 15, 2020.
City officials from the Mayor’s Office and City Manager’s Office continue to avoid questions about her tenure or the most recent allegations.
Reneé Hall Runs Away Again
Hall has been under heavy criticism since it was learned she was not providing proper supervision to officers during the June Gorge Floyd protests and lied about the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge events both at the time and later in official After Action Reports.
Hall’s resignation has led to thirty-six applicants for the Chief of Police position.
City Manager T.C. Broadnax invited the group of seven candidates chosen from a pool of thirty-six applicants from across the U.S. The candidates named finalists are:
Albert Martinez – Director of Security for Dallas Catholic Dioceses/Former DPD Deputy Chief
Avery Moore – Assistant Police Chief, Dallas Police Department
Eddie Garcia – Chief of Police, San Jose, California
Jeff Spivey – Chief of Police, City of Irving, Texas
Malik Aziz – Major, Dallas Police Department
Reuben Ramirez – Deputy Chief, Dallas Police Department
RaShall Brackney – Chief of Police, Charlottesville, Virginia
Interviews between candidates and council members will be pre-recorded and published on the city’s social media and cable TV next week.
An additional fifty-five organizations ranging from police unions to neighborhood nonprofits will participate in stakeholder panel interviews with the candidates beginning December 15, 2020.
Broadnax says he expects to select and appoint the next chief before the end of the year.
Mayor Johnson has recently emphasized public safety including his state of the city address: “We need more robust law enforcement strategies,” Johnson said in his speech at Fair Park, in South Dallas. “The violent crime reduction plan that I asked for last year simply has not worked. … It is my expectation that whoever becomes the next police chief will be accountable to you and will work with you to make our city safer.”
Risqué Reneé Hall may be the new moniker for outgoing Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall.
Hall who is about to leave as the embattled police chief of Dallas may have more to answer for than just her lack of leadership and supervision during the Dallas George Floyd protests and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge debacle. Internal reports at the time showed Hall lied about the events around the bridge event.
Those may be minor issues in comparison.
A year and a half ago there were media rumors about her relationship with Dominique Alexander and the conflict of interest it posed in the Dominique Alexander case. She has often publicly put him out front in an advisory role for the Citizens Police Oversight Board.
Additionally, he brags regularly about his close ties to her. It appears those ties are closer than previously known as two current Dallas Police officers noted Hall and Alexander have been intimate and that the relationship has clouded her judgement.
Alexander has multiple arrests to his credit outside his activism. A year ago when he and Hall are reported to have been involved, Alexander was being arrested on a felony assault charge in a domestic violence case involving his girlfriend.
Alexander faced charges of assault causing serious bodily injury and a misdemeanor assault in the cases.
Alexander was convicted of shaking a 2-year-old baby in 2011. He was sentenced to five years but released on probation shortly after his sentencing. Alexander has also been convicted of theft, making a false police report and evading arrest. He’s also been indicted in Denton County for felony theft.
This is one of the people the police chief chooses to spend time with in both official and unofficial capacities.
Risqué Reneé Hall Continued…?
The behavior in this case calls into question why TC Broadnax is following the same plan as last time.
In the previous search for a new police chief, TC Broadnax used a secret panel to determine who would be selected as Dallas’ new police chief. He is doing the same again – calling into question is he incorporating the assistance of Dominique Alexander or other convicted felons into the process.
Neither Broadnax, nor Jon Fortune, Assistant City Manager for Public Safety, returned emails seeking comment about the police chief’s judgement or these allegations coming from inside the department.
Halloween is happening for Dallas. Dallas Parks & Recreation is hosting a Drive Thru Halloween event at Campbell Green Rec Center and several other sites this coming Friday night.
DPR is hosting the safe, fun drive thru Halloween Spooktacular Zone at rec centers across Dallas. They promise to be full of surprises with all the ghost, goblins, witches and monsters.
The full list of Dallas locations can be found on the Parks Calendar.
Halloween 2020
Halloween bags filled with candy, popcorn and trinkets for everyone who drives through. All guest must remain inside cars to participate.
