The Dallas Police Department is launching a new unit to focus on transparency and protecting the constitutional rights of Dallas residents.
Chief Eddie Garcia and DPD staff briefed the Dallas City Council Public Safety Committee on the upcoming Constitutional Policing Unit earlier this week.
“We will now have accountability for upholding the constitutional rights of our citizens in this context of public safety,” said Council Member Kathy Stewart. “I’m thrilled to see that there will be an office focused on this.”
According to the DPD’s presentation, the goal of this new unit will be to build the department’s “commitment to transparency.”
DPD Lieutenant Jesus Gonzales explained that constitutional policing focuses on “law enforcement practices that emphasize accountability, transparency, and a commitment to upholding the constitutional rights of citizens.”
“The creation of this unit truly is innovative, historic, and unprecedented,” he said. “Such best practice units are traditionally only implemented in a law enforcement agency as a reactive response to criticism from the Department of Justice. But here we are proactively implementing best practices to reinforce our department’s commitment to continuous improvement as that is what the citizens of Dallas expect and deserve.”
DPD Legislative Affairs Coordinator Maddy Madrazo said the first phase of this program is being developed this month, and its initial “best practice recommendations” will be delivered to Chief Garcia in February for his approval.
The unit will also launch a new website and newsletter to inform Dallasites about constitutional policing. The DPD will return to the Public Safety Committee next year to update officials on the development of the unit.
Amid an ongoing staffing shortage at the Dallas Police Department, Council Member Cara Mendelsohn, chair of the Public Safety Committee, asked if this new unit would take any sworn officers off patrol.
“Are we dedicating anybody with a badge? Or is this all non-sworn and consultants?” she asked.
“We really are building this from the ground up,” replied Lt. Gonzales. “As of now, there are a total of nine full-time equivalencies assigned to the unit. That does include me. And there are only two sworn officers assigned to it. The rest of this is professional staff.”
Mendelsohn championed the constitutional policing initiative but said she hopes it does not take sworn officers off the streets as she is “very concerned with the number of officers” in the department already.
“The goal is definitely not to have a large amount of sworn officers here,” said Chief Garcia. “Staffing is a tremendous issue.”
DPD is up against a severe shortage of officers, as The Dallas Express has reported extensively. While a City estimate places an ideal number of officers for a municipality of Dallas’ size at 4,000, the department has just under 3,200.