Dallas Police and State Troopers Must Lift the Cone of Silence About South Dallas Shooting

A strong leader inspires public confidence by confronting tough issues, directly and forthrightly. We haven’t encountered much of that in recent days. On Saturday, two Department of Public Safety troopers were involved in a fatal shooting of a driver they said pulled a gun on them in South Dallas. The incident occurred just days after community activists and City Council member Adam Bazaldua, who represents South Dallas, expressed concern that some troopers have engaged in heavy-handed policing. So how did Dallas police and DPS officials react to a potentially explosive event? With the same cone of silence that they’ve exhibited since police Chief U. Renee Hall accepted Gov. Greg Abbott’s offer in June to send state troopers to Dallas to combat a disturbing spike in violent crime. Information is virtually non-existent. We don’t know how many troopers are in Dallas and know little more than they are working in high crime hot spots. One would expect that a trooper-involved shooting would have prompted a public comment from law enforcement. Instead the unresponsiveness continued and expanded to the mayor's office.   Continue reading...