Police Chief U. Renee Hall, Step Up and Be the Leader That Dallas Thought It Hired

Undeterred by a sweat box of an afternoon on Friday, African-American pastors and elected officials shielded the entrance to Dallas police headquarters and, one by one, eloquently and unequivocally declared their support for the city's first female police chief inside.The group’s revival-like rally sent a powerful message of support about a chief who had been through a rocky week. What I still didn’t hear were any specifics about Chief U. Renee Hall’s leadership that provide assurances that she is the right person for this job.It’s Hall’s responsibility — not her backers’ — to deliver those confidence-building messages. It’s on her to explain how she will turn this department around and reduce crime in Dallas.Hall inherited a problematic police department that had been mostly walking in place for a year or more, but she took the job knowing what was wrong here. More specifically, isn’t it fair to assume that, in a competitive field of candidates, she won the top-cop job because she had the best blueprint to fix what was broken?That’s the plan I’m waiting to hear, but increasingly, it’s sinking in for me that maybe one doesn’t exist.  Continue reading...