Two Dallas police officers have been fired for inappropriate conduct after being accused of violating multiple department policies.
Senior Cpl. Lontrell Tatum and Officer Carlos Romero were both fired by Police Chief Eddie Garcia on April 4, reported The Dallas Morning News.
Tatum, who had been with the Dallas Police Department since 2013, was fired after purportedly using unnecessary or inappropriate force, using profane or indecent language, failing to provide medical treatment after exposing a prisoner to pepper spray, failing to secure a prisoner with a seatbelt for transport, and giving conflicting or misleading statements regarding the use of paper spray, according to an email sent to officers that was obtained by DMN.
Romero was fired after being accused of making inappropriate and/or sexual comments to a female during a call for service and violating DPD’s body-camera policy, per the email. Romero had been with DPD since 2016.
“We have a standard. I have a standard. I owe it, we owe it, to our community and to the men and women of this department. When we’re right, I will vehemently support my people when we’re right. But when we’re wrong, we’re going to hold ourselves accountable, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” Garcia said, according to NBC 5 DFW.
The termination of Tatum and Romero is just the latest in a number of disciplinary actions taken by DPD.
Back in November, a veteran officer was arrested on family violence charges, as previously covered by The Dallas Express. Sgt. Ruben Lozano, who was assigned to the downtown beat, was placed on administrative leave after being arrested.
In September, another DPD officer was arrested for alleged family violence, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Meanwhile, DPD continues to struggle fighting crime amid a serious staffing shortage. Although a City report recommended a force of roughly 4,000 officers, DPD fields only around 3,000. The effects of this shortage have been evident in Downtown Dallas, which regularly sees more crime than Fort Worth’s city center. A dedicated police unit and private security guards patrol the latter.
Still, City leaders approved only a budget of $654 million for DPD this year, which is considerably less than the spending on police seen in other high-crime jurisdictions, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
