Dallas Police Chief David Brown Tuesday promised immediate improvement in slow response to lower priority calls as the largest police union issued a survey critical of his management style.
At a Dallas Bar Association luncheon, Brown said slower response time is partly the result of policies which have been successful in reducing officer injuries and officer-involved shootings.
“Who wants to be Baltimore?” Brown asked the lawyers. “I like the outcomes of not being Baltimore and having less police-involved shootings.”
But Brown also said he understands his department is graded on performance every day and slow response time must improve.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll get this done, we’ll get this done now,” Brown said.
Sources told NBC 5 officers in the Gang Unit will begin answering 911 calls, shifting attention away from that special enforcement area.
“When the officers get there, there’s not going to be any use for use of force or anything else, everybody’s gone,” Dallas Police Association President Ron Pinkston said. “It’s taking us way too long to respond to calls. That’s why officer assaults are down, officer shootings are down, everything’s down because it’s taking us way too long to get there.”
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On Tuesday, Pinkston released a Dallas Police Association survey of 1,454 officers. Among other things in the survey, 65 percent of respondents said Dallas citizens are less safe under the policies of Chief Brown, 67 percent said they are not being allowed to perform duties Dallas citizens expect and 75 percent said they would not recommend the Dallas Police Department to a potential law enforcement candidate.
“The city manager needs to determine if Brown can work and change his management style and if he can’t, the city manager will have to look at changing to another chief,” Pinkston said.
Brown defended his policies Tuesday.
“Strict policies and holding officers accountable much more have been rebuffed by police unions all over this country and this is not unusual in the environment police departments find themselves in, trying to do things to lessen the negative impacts in the community,” Brown said.
But Brown said he has made an effort to meet with officers personally and in response he announced Monday a campaign to boost Dallas police salaries.
“It’s the first thing out of officers mouth is that they don’t feel appreciated because the starting pay is so low,” Brown said.
The leaders of Latino and black police officer associations distanced themselves from the DPA this week and voiced support for Brown.
City Manager A.C. Gonzalez has exclusive authority to hire and fire the police chief. Brown has served as chief for five years.
Mayor Mike Rawlings last week wrote a letter to Dallas City Council members, warning them to leave decisions about the police chief to Gonzalez after two members reportedly asked Gonzalez about Brown’s possible departure.
Gonzalez has said he has been pleased with Brown’s performance since he took over for David Kunkle who held the position for six years.
"It's the kind of a job where you need to shuffle the deck every so often," Kunkle said.
Kunkle said Tuesday he believes Brown is doing a fine job, but he is familiar with the unique pressure Brown faces from many directions.
“I don't think there's a job in North Texas any harder," Kunkle said.
Brown recalled that Kunkle also faced negative evaluations from the Dallas Police Association during his time as chief.
“So this is not anything new,” Brown said. “We just have to be strong in our resolve in moving forward and making sure that both the community and officers feel they are receiving exceptional police services.”
