Dallas Police Chief Hall heckled by protesters at march outside City Hall

Whatever message of unity Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall hoped to convey Sunday, many protesters made it clear they weren’t ready to receive it.

A small crowd heckled the chief Sunday afternoon outside City Hall. The group demanded answers about the Police Department’s use of force during recent protests, including a June 1 demonstration in which protesters were arrested on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in West Dallas.

The group of a little more than 100 protesters had marched to City Hall from Klyde Warren Park, as part of weeks of rallies nationwide after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes before his death.

Sunday’s rally and march were organized by the United Justice League, and the group’s founder said he invited Hall to speak so people could hold the department accountable.

“We need to hear her speak. We need to hear what she has to say,” Zachariah Manning told the crowd before the march. “Let’s give respect and hear her. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with her.”

The protesters quickly showed they did not.

A woman interrupted Hall as the chief was saying that although isolated police misconduct doesn’t represent all officers, the department has work to do.

“Lots of work to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s not all of you,” the woman said.

“One of the things that we can’t do, is we can’t continue to fight,” Hall replied. “Fighting doesn’t get anything done.”

Hall tried to tell the crowd that the department is willing to adapt and cooperate with the public. She noted the department’s use of body-worn cameras and the community’s oversight board as signs of progress.

But her words were drowned out by many in the crowd who shouted out their personal experience of being tear-gassed or shot with less-lethal ammunition during the recent protests against police brutality.

Last week, a federal judge barred the department from using such tactics during protests through at least Sept. 9.

Manning tried to control the tense moment, grabbing a microphone and asking the crowd: “What does the chief need to do to help the city going forward?”

“Resign,” many people called out.

Hall quickly left to chants of “Defund police!”

Ryan Lewis, 39, was one of the protesters who heckled Hall. He said he had been tear-gassed May 30, the second night of protests in downtown Dallas.

Lewis is in favor of reducing police funding and reallocating the money to other programs. He said the current funding system has drained too much from education and social services for decades.

“And they can’t fill those roles,” Lewis said of the police. “They’re not trained to fill those roles. It’s not the type of people you want to fill those roles.”

After her brief remarks, Hall said she understood the crowd’s anger. The department is evaluating controversial police interactions with the public that were caught on video during the first few days of unrest, she said.

She vowed to provide “a full, comprehensive review of exactly what went on during the protests.”

“Then we can all understand exactly what happened,” she said. “If the Dallas Police Department did something we weren’t supposed to do, we will own it. We will acknowledge it, we will fix it, and we will move forward. We are committed to that. We’ve always been that way. And we’re still that way today.”

She added that she doesn’t agree with calls to defund police departments.