Dallas police chief says she is prepping department for successor’s transition

Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall is working to make her successor’s transition go smoothly as the city’s next top cop will face internal challenges and external calls for reform invigorated by the social justice movement.

In a meeting with The Dallas Morning News editorial board on Friday, Hall said that the new chief would probably face internal issues such as completing implementation of a department overhaul laid out in a KPMG audit report and finalizing reforms to make officers more accountable.

She said she recently created an office in the department to oversee strategic priorities.

“The goal is to make the new chief’s transition much smoother than the transition that I had coming in,” Hall said.

The city has hired a national search firm to find Hall’s replacement.

In an Oct. 9 memo, Jon Fortune, an assistant city manager over public safety, said the goal was to make an offer to a candidate by the end of the year. Previous chief searches have included community panels and interviews with finalists.

Since Hall submitted her resignation in September, City Manager T.C. Broadnax has not said whether he would name an interim chief.

The top job was posted about a week ago. A spokeswoman for Broadnax said he was soliciting input through a community survey link in English and Spanish. Applications are due Dec. 1.

‘Greener pastures’

After three years on the job, Dallas’ first female chief attributed her departure to coming career opportunities.

But her resignation announcement followed criticism over the city’s increase in homicides and fallout from the first few nights of protests in downtown Dallas after the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

A criminal investigation was launched after a Dallas Morning News report about a police sergeant who was captured in a photograph shooting a protester with a pepper-ball gun.

Hall declined to say what she would do after she leaves but said she was looking forward to “greener pastures.” She added: “Stay tuned.”

The next chief will be expected to improve community trust amid a national social justice movement and to reduce violent crime in a pandemic.

Killings in Dallas are up 18% so far this year, with police reporting 203, compared with 172 at this time a year ago.

Council members throughout Hall’s tenure lambasted her about rising crime, particularly after 2019 saw a spike in homicides. At the beginning of the year, she shared plans to decrease violent crime by 5% — a goal council members said was not ambitious enough.

But Hall defended the approach Friday, citing key arrests of violent offenders. She said the increases in homicides and aggravated assaults are not unique to Dallas.

“The challenge here in Dallas is that we know that our elected officials have stated they don’t really care what’s going on in other cities across the country — they only care about what’s going on in Dallas,” she said. “That would be the equivalent of us saying we don’t care what’s going on with a pandemic across the country.”

According to a new report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, 56 out of 67 cities reported an increase in homicidal violence this year.

Police accountability

Another critical challenge for Hall’s successor will be completing a department overhaul recommended by a 2019 study.

The review highlighted massive issues with personnel shortages in patrol and recommended better management of resources to improve call response times, detective caseloads and technology.

Following massive demonstrations across the country and in Dallas, Hall said more action was needed on police accountability.

She said she was an advocate of police intervention and technology for an early-warning system to flag officers who repeatedly violate policy. She said the department’s current software for flagging such officers is deficient.

The city, she said, is in the process of acquiring software to better track officer violations.

“My prayer is that the Dallas Police Department will continue to grow, we will continue to build upon 21st-century policing practices that we need, and will continue to hold individuals in our Police Department accountable,” Hall said.

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Hiring timeline for new Dallas police chief

• Through November: Recruitment process will continue.
• Early December: First applicant review.
• Week of Dec. 14: Search firm will engage with community stakeholders to coordinate meeting and interviewing finalist to provide further input to the city manager. City staff is working with the firm to identify people who will be involved in the interview process.
• Shortly thereafter: Interviews by City Manager T.C. Broadnax and his executive team.
• Jan. 1: Broadnax picks next chief.