Talk of using Dallas County sheriff's deputies and Texas Department of Safety troopers to help Dallas police officers fight a spike in violent crime points out how many law enforcement agencies are present in North Texas.
Just at one location in Dallas near Parkland Memorial Hospital, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police, Dallas County Hospital District Police, Dallas Police Department, Dallas County Sheriff's Department, Dallas County Deputy Constables and state troopers all have jurisdiction, not to mention various federal law enforcement agencies.
Richard Holden, a criminal justice expert at the University of North Texas at Dallas, said each agency has its own mission, command structure and policies.
"And so typically, while they're cordial, they get along with each other, some of them work together. At the same time, the sheer workload keeps them from being as collaborative as maybe they'd like to be," Holden said.
Tuesday, Dallas Police Chief David Brown will meet with people from the Dallas County Sheriff's Department and Texas Department of Public Safety on the possible use of officers from outside the police department to help fight the city's violent crime increase.
Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez said agencies always try to work together but may not have resources to share. And Valdez said cooperation includes complications.
"You have to decide who's going to be responsible for accountability, and if something happens, who's going to be responsible for that," Valdez said. "It's never bad to cooperate, as long as it's in the right direction. I don't see any harm in us helping each other."
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Holden said some cities have consolidated agencies for less duplication but that can cause other challenges.
"The problem is it gets so large, so complex, that you have a large organization trying to do different missions," he said.
Agencies routinely cooperate in times of disaster, but Holden and Valdez said the cooperation being considered for the Dallas violent crime outbreak is unique.
"It's an interesting experiment. We'll see how it works," Holden said.
