NPR for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Dallas Police Chief Bolton Booted

By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter

Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: First thing yesterday morning, Dallas City Manager Ted Benavides told a surprised mayor and city council at the same time that he'd just fired Police Chief Terrell Bolton. Shortly after that, he faced reporters, saying it's responsibility alone to hire and fire the city's police chief.

Ted Benavides, Dallas City Manager: After four years of Chief Bolton's leadership, I just thought it was time to go in a new direction and we needed a new leader for the city of Dallas and the Dallas Police Department.

Zeeble: Citing an accumulation of issues, but nothing in particular, Benavides didn't focus on problems within the police department during the chief's tenure. He didn't mention Bolton's firing of key department executives right after he took over, the fake drug scandal, problems working with the FBI, Dallas' leading the nation in key crime statistics, or the recent dismissal of an officer for shooting a teenager while off duty. At his press conference, Chief Bolton looked upbeat, and defended his record

Terrell Bolton, fired Dallas Police Chief: We've been able to reduce the per capita crime to some of the lowest points in our city's history. We just came off one of the lowest years of homicides in this city we've had in the last 30 years.

Zeeble: Bolton then expressed surprise at being dismissed.

Bolton: I've never been fired from a job before. I've never had a job other than the Dallas Police Department. The strange part for me today - I don't know why I got fired.

Zeeble: For Jordan Blair, publisher of an African American paper, The Elite News, it was all too clear why the Chief was let go.

Jordan Blair, Publisher, Elite News: One thing that really unravels me is that the chief put together a staff that resembled what our great fair city stands for. And what do we have? A mayor who came together to try to tear it apart. Maybe they don't want to have African Americans included, or Hispanics included. But if you look at the agenda, it's to get rid of our African Americans and get rid of Hispanics and that's not right.

Laura Miller, Dallas Mayor: That is just patently not the case.

Zeeble: Dallas Mayor Laura Miller.

Miller: Everybody wanted this chief to be successful when he was appointed. And everyone said so. And as recently as this week, this Dallas City Council was working with our chief to accomplish our goals. So that's just not the case at all.

Zeeble: Several council members backed the city manager's decision as well, including Veletta Lill.

Veletta Lill, Dallas City Council Member: The decision was made on a number of things; a cumulative effect, shall we say. Citizens did not feel safe. We have a demoralized police force. And there are a number of concerns in our community.

Zeeble: But Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill wasn't convinced Chief Bolton's dismissal was the best solution to those problems. For one thing, he wants details behind the firing, saying his constituents won't be satisfied with anything less. He also worried about the method and timing of Bolton's exit.

Don Hill, Dallas Deputy Mayor ProTem: I'm struggling with trying to make sure we begin to talk about this and work through it. In terms of replacing a chief and who we come up with, we've got to have a better environment for that person to come in with. This looks very bad. It looks bad from a competitive standpoint, it looks bad to the citizens.

Zeeble: It also looks bad to Terrell Bolton's attorney, Bob Hinton. Hinton took the lectern at police headquarters after Bolted departed.

Bob Hinton, Attorney for Terrell Bolton: It's going to be a quiet exit, but this isn't the end of it. We're seeing the tip of the conspiratorial iceberg. We're seeing a situation where Laura Miller has tried to change the form of government unsuccessfully. She's over-reached the City Manager. She's micro-managed this police department, and Terrell Bolton's been treated in an undignified manner. And I think it's a tragic day in the history of this fine city.

Zeeble: The attorney hinted at a lawsuit, possibly on grounds of defamation, but wouldn't get more specific. Meanwhile, Benavides named Assistant Chief Randy Hampton, also an African American, to take over the department on interim basis. Benavides will conduct a national search for a new chief and expects it to take six months. The council is likely to talk more about the firing today at their regularly scheduled meeting. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.

 

Email Bill Zeeble about this story.

KERA reporter Catherine Cuellar assisted with this story.