The Dallas Community Police Oversight Board was prevented to ask the city's new police chief questions about specific policy questions — including his stance on immigration, which has garnered controversy in recent days — during Tuesday's meeting due to a technicality raised by the city attorney.
Although Police Chief Daniel Comeaux was in attendance for an introduction to the board, a representative with the City Attorney's Office prevented the board from asking questions outside of his biography and resume.
The agenda item was titled "Chief Daniel D. Comeaux Introduction to CPOB" and did not mention specifics on local, state, and federal policies. Because an introduction was what was noted on the agenda, the City Attorney's Office said asking questions not noted on the agenda would be a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The agenda was released 72 hours in advance, but board members said they received no directive about violations.
KERA reached out to the City Attorney's Office for comment and will update this story with any response.
The meeting took place a day after the board sent a letter to Comeaux asking for a detailed explanation of his stance regarding immigration and deportations.
The chief's public statements have come under scrutiny after he assured the public his department would fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities in a Fox News interview last week.
"If there's a federal agency that's doing an operation and they need our assistance, we'll be there to help them," he said, "as long as they're doing it by the law and doing it with respect."
He later walked back those comments after public criticism, saying he was taken out of context. He later clarified the department's policy, and said his comments were specifically about those with felony warrants, but reiterated the department would continue to assist "federal partners."
Tuesday's meeting also came one day after a demonstration in which hundreds of people rallied in Dallas to protest the Trump administration's ramped-up deportation efforts and to show support for demonstrators in Los Angeles.
Comeaux told the board that he was "happy and proud" of the Dallas officers' restraint during Monday night's protest after only one arrest was made.
"I think that shows the ability of the Dallas Police Department on what they're capable of doing and their strength they showed and it was really phenomenal to watch what was going on and how the Dallas police department handled that situation [Monday] night," Comeaux said.
He added that the top priority for the department is to keep everyone in Dallas safe.
During public comment, Dallas resident Dominique Alexander criticized the city attorney's office for what he called a "loose interpretation" of city rules to the board.
"You can ask the Chief of Police what happened at a damn protest last night, but can't you ask the Chief of Police a policy?" Alexander said. "That seems like controlled narrative. I don't see a last night's protest on the agenda."
It's not the first time the city attorney has derailed the board's agenda.
Last year, a legal opinion from the office would have limited the kinds of complaints the board was allowed to investigate. The opinion blindsided members of the board, and the city’s rules were later clarified to remove any potential limitations.
Several board members, including Changa Higgins, said Tuesday they were frustrated that the city attorney did not alert them of the violation prior to the meeting. Higgins said it felt like a setup.
"You don't advise us that any of the stuff that we talked about in our meetings prior, or the meeting we had just last week, are not reflected in the wording in our agenda," Higgins said. "And then you come in here tonight and tell us that we can't ask him questions about policy? I think it's unacceptable."
Higgins, who represents District 3, said there's a narrative in his community that the oversight board functions as an arm of the police department. He said situations like Tuesday's meeting are examples of why that narrative exists, and suggested the board should have its own counsel outside of the city attorney's office.
Board member C. Victor Lander echoed Higgins' call for a private counsel to advise the board.
"The city attorney is supposed to be here to advise the board; this city attorney is not advising our board," Lander said. "This was a setup so that we could not do what we've been talking about for weeks."
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