As crime increases, Dallas city council members want answers on how to effectively manage police manpower to tackle violence

Violent crime in Dallas is increasing and city council members want answers on how it can be turned around.

In a more than three-hour Public Safety Committee meeting on Monday, city officials sounded the alarm on the increase of homicides and aggravated assaults related to family violence. To further complicate crime-fighting: The Dallas Police Department is struggling with lagging 911 call response times because of staffing issues.

Homicides in the city are currently up about 10%, with Dallas police reporting to 178 homicides compared to 162 a year ago. And 2019 ended with more than 200 homicides, a number not seen in Dallas in more than a decade.

As a potential solution to managing police resources better, council member Adam Bazaldua introduced a resolution to change how Dallas police handle nonviolent and low-level marijuana possession offenses below two ounces. Bazaldua said police officers are spending hours at the county jail to book arrestees when they could focus on violent criminals. He wants police to stop arresting people whose only crime is possession of small amounts of marijuana.

“I want to emphasize the efficiency piece,” Bazaldua said. “Any man-hour wasted on something that we know is waste is too many,” he added.

However, some council members were concerned about unintended consequences from decriminalizing marijuana. Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall also defended marijuana arrests, saying that violent crimes are associated with marijuana trafficking, but the department did not provide historical data beyond one month of data on marijuana arrests with concurrent charges. The city’s largest police union, the Dallas Police Association, has also shared opposition to the resolution.

“I would want a lot more data before I would just randomly pick a two-ounce number and try to dictate a policy for something that we have not explored thoroughly,” said councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, who represents Far North Dallas.

But Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot told council members on Monday his office is getting fewer marijuana cases as enforcement for possession of small amounts of marijuana has decreased.

The change in enforcement comes after the legislature last year passed a bill legalizing hemp growing and CBD products, which forced police departments to perform more extensive testing to identify illegal substances. The requirement introduced a significant expense for police agencies to test small amounts of marijuana.

“As a result of the new testing, new personnel, the cost of a test went from $125 to $217,” Creuzot said.

As a result, some police agencies have dramatically dropped the amount of enforcement for low-level marijuana possession. But it’s not the case for the Dallas Police Department, which continues to make hundreds of low-level marijuana arrests.

The debate also revolved around the issue of racial disparities. According to data provided from the Dallas District Attorney’s office, about 90 percent of marijuana arrests involved Black and Latino people. Dallas Police numbers showed white people made up 8 % of those who are arrested for low-level marijuana possession.

A person caught with four ounces of marijuana is eligible to be released after receiving a citation, but the department uses that very sparingly with about fewer than 1% of marijuana offenses ending in a “cite and release.” Dallas police officials said arrestees have to be eligible for cite and release. The criteria include being a resident of Dallas, having a proper license and no prior convictions.

Bazaldua’s resolution would not prevent police from arresting a person with a concurrent violent charge.

Council member Chad West, who does not sit on the public safety committee, but sat in on the meeting, said he was concerned about the processing time at the jail.

“We’ve got to be pressuring the county along those lines,” West said.

Aside from the discussion of marijuana arrests, the council also received updates on other crime-related issues in a jam-packed agenda.

Ahead of Monday, Dallas Police assistant chief Avery Moore held a news conference after police responded to five homicides over the weekend. Moore described an ambush on a couple in Oak Cliff as horrific and asked the community for help. The department’s violent crime plan, which focused on arresting violent offenders, is likely to fall well below its crime reducing goals by the end of the year.

Police officials also said they were adding staff to the 911 call center to address lagging issues.

Jennifer Staubach Gates, who leads the city’s domestic violence task force, said family violence aggravated assaults accounted for 25% of total aggravated assaults this year. Gates released a report at the meeting that recommended a need for more officers dedicated to family violence cases.

She shared the story of Nicole McChriston whose significant other faces charges in her Sept. 4 killing, which occurred about 60 hours after his release from Dallas County Jail on an assault charge.

“The system failed Nicole,” Gates said.