The Dallas Police Department’s (DPD) new online reporting protocol is getting some pushback from critics who believe the policy could aggravate certain potentially volatile situations.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, DPD will require crime victims to report certain “non-emergency” offenses through its online reporting system starting on July 3. Such crimes include shoplifting, car burglaries, interference with child custody, identity theft, and certain car accidents, among others.
The new protocol will go into effect just two months after a ransomware attack allegedly upended the department’s ability to publish crime statistics and temporarily disrupted certain police dispatch capabilities.
“I’m told that even the police dispatch services were disabled and officers were being dispatched by cell phone for a bit. They couldn’t run license plates or check warrants initially,” the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association Crime Watch reported in an email obtained by The Dallas Express.
Kristin Lowman, assistant director of media relations for DPD, told The Dallas Express that the reported ransomware attack would not have an impact on next month’s online reporting requirements.
The new policy will also be implemented amid a significant department shortage of sworn personnel, skyrocketing police response times, and an increase in high-priority calls for law enforcement in Dallas. DPD is currently short about 500 officers from targets set by leadership, despite attempts by Chief Eddie Garcia and Mayor Eric Johnson to step up recruitment.
“We have to think about our men and women and the stress that they’re under and the constant calls that they’re on. … We have to make the working conditions of our men and women better and at the same time not sacrifice the service for our community — and I think this achieves that,” Garcia said at a press conference attended by The Dallas Express on Tuesday.
Garcia went on to note that department staffing is a critical issue facing the City as calls for service continue to tick upward.
“[W]e need to grow, and we’re trying to grow as quickly as possible, and our recruiting unit is working as hard as it can. But certainly, when we look at the staffing numbers where the City is today as opposed [to] when it was a smaller city years ago, those are obvious,” Garcia said.
The impact of the police shortage is especially felt in the downtown area of Dallas, where the crime rate is substantially higher than in the same sector of Fort Worth, which has dedicated police and security units patrolling its city center.
Several skeptics of the new policy responded to DPD’s tweet reminding residents of the change in reporting protocols, suggesting that it could worsen Dallas’ crime situation.
“Oh man, this is a terrible idea. Optional online reporting is a good idea, but mandating that accidents and shoplifting be reported online will end badly. You’re going to have an uptick in violent responses to accidents and theft,” wrote Twitter user Garrett Ashley.
In a similar vein, another tweeted, “Wait. If someone is trying to interfere with child custody, you’re going to tell them to go online? Wonder if this is going to lead to more serious emergencies? I bet it does.”
East Dallas resident Edward Roblez also expressed his skepticism, speaking with WFAA about how the policy will apply to car burglaries.
“If someone breaks into your car and steals something — what if it’s a gun?” Roblez asked.
Others claimed that the policy could lead to victims of crime simply not reporting so-called “non-emergency” incidents.
“You know it’s going to greatly [increase] the amount of things that go unreported,” wrote Patrick Pixley.
Another Twitter user even insinuated that a decrease in reports was the objective of the new policy.
While the online reporting requirement has its detractors, others think the policy will be received favorably by some residents.
“I think it’s going to be a lot like self-check-out at the grocery stores — some people love it, some people hate it. But I think some of us just want to get it done,” said Daniel Wood, crime watch president for the Buckner Terrace neighborhood, per WFAA.