Dallas is Losing its Police Officers
Over a quarter of Dallas police officers are eligible for retirement this month, putting the Dallas Police Department in a concerning position.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia attended the Dallas City Council meeting on June 15th where he told the councilmembers that 27% of the force has the years of service they need to retire with a pension.
That’s a total of 871 Dallas officers that could leave the force today!
This comes at a time when there are already 600 fewer officers to respond to calls than ever before, with only 3,079 officers currently sworn in compared to our peak officer force of 3,690 back in 2011.
Consequently, the police response times are much slower than they were last year because there simply aren’t enough officers to get to every call in a timely fashion. What makes the situation even worse, however, is that Dallas only has the budget and police academy capability for hiring 250 new officers this year, making an 800-officer loss unbearable.
Crime categories, such as murder, skyrocketed this year compared to last year, and the lack of officers is a serious factor contributing to these rises.
At the city council meeting, Garcia explained the to the councilmembers, “So, we really need to find ways to entice individuals that would otherwise retire immediately to stick around.” He’s exactly right, but it’s incredibly unfortunate that we are in this position, and it begs the question:
How did it get this bad?
This is what happens when the city council allocates money and resources to the wrong areas. New development projects are great for the economy, but they seem useless when the streets are riddled with crime. They seem useless when 3 people are getting shot in broad daylight. They seem useless when families are mourning over the senseless killing over their 14-year-old child. They seem useless when Dallas has recorded over 110 murders year to date, 17 more than this time last year.
The City Council will ask the police department to dedicate more patrols and resources to their various districts, but their failure to give the police the funding they need is why that has not happened. If any of them were serious about addressing the rising crime, that would be reflected in how they prioritize the city budget.
The good people of Dallas deserve better than this; they deserve to feel safe in their own communities. We need a city council that is going to prioritize public safety and give our officers what they need, especially as Dallas suffers from this huge decline in police presence.
Ask your city council representative how they will support the police during these hard times, and demand that they keep Dallas safe!