The Dallas City Council held a session on Wednesday night to remove important provisions from a City ordinance established in 1988 that mandated a specific ratio of police officers to residents.
This action appears to be the Council’s attempt to prevent potential lawsuits that may result from new City charter amendments that voters approved just days earlier, especially since the City has failed to meet police staffing levels in recent years, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The current police department is short approximately 900 officers of the recommended 4,000 minimum, per Fox 4 KDFW.
As such, the City officials’ recent decision to remove the 1988 ordinance in a closed-door session with minimal discussion has raised questions about the Council’s timing and intentions.
The ordinance in question requires the Dallas Police Department to maintain a ratio of at least three officers for every 1,000 residents — a ratio that is not currently obtainable due to a shortage of officers, reported Fox 4.
One of the amendments brought forth by the local organization Dallas HERO that passed on November 5 is Proposition U, which amends the charter to mandate that at least 50% of any annual revenue exceeding the previous year’s total be allocated to support the Dallas Police and Fire Pension, increase the starting salaries for Dallas police officers, and require the City to have at least 4,000 officers, reported The Dallas Express.
Another HERO amendment passed was Proposition S, which allows Dallas residents to sue the City if it violates the local charter laws, state laws, or any ordinances.
“Our government should fear that citizen looking over their shoulder that’s overlooking them saying, hey, we’re going to hold you accountable. So I think just the mere awareness that accountability may be lurking behind you may make some politicians act very differently,” said the executive director of Dallas HERO, Pete Marocco, on the passing of the two HERO amendments in an interview with podcast host Sarah Zubiate-Bennett.
However, it appears that the City Council is trying to shirk accountability rather than be held to a new standard and may showcase the City’s ongoing struggle to address crime and police staffing issues that have plagued Dallas for years.
Still, the City Council’s decision on November 13 to remove the 1988 police staffing ratio provision does not absolve the City from the need to meet the new hiring mandate imposed by Proposition U. Dallas officials could still face pressure from various sides as they navigate current police department staffing needs.
“Today’s reckless and spiteful decision by the city council only demonstrated their total lack of professionalism and research, and egotistical grudge against the people’s express will. Once again, the city council has abused executive session instead of deliberating an important subject before the people, but the people still prevailed in the right to sue for violations of the law,” Marocco told Fox.
“It wasn’t appropriately brought to vote, added to the agenda in the dead of the night and five cowardly members of city council were absent. Dallas’s city council continues to push their own political agendas instead of representing the very people who elected them to serve,” Marocco added.