Transparency, community engagement, and hiring more officers are among Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux's priorities months into his role.
The Dallas Community Police Oversight Board were able to ask Comeaux policy related questions during its Tuesday meeting. The board had previously attempted to ask Comeaux questions about his priorities as chief but were prevented from doing so back in June.
Comeaux started his role months after the voter-approved Proposition U went into effect, which requires the city to spend no less than 50% of new, annual revenue to fund the police and fire pension. It also mandates a minimum of 4,000 sworn police officers in the department.
The Dallas HERO organization started the push for an increased police force and pay last year. The organization collected enough signatures to include Propositions S, T, and U on last November's ballot despite city council's opposition due to its oversimplification of staffing issues.
DPD is on track to 4,000, but Comeaux said it will take some time. The department is currently at 2,300 officers and recently hired more than 325.
"We're supposed to hire 350 in this upcoming fiscal year," Comeaux said. "We feel very confident that we'll get over that 350 number."
Board member Jenny King, who represents District 10, said that, while she believes in the best of what police represent, she knows residents are also fearful and distrustful of the police.
Comeaux said Dallas police will work to engage the community, educating business owners and residents about ways to stay safe and prevent crime.
He added that he will not take away neighborhood police officers, or NPOs. NPOs engage with community members to handle causes of crime in their neighborhood.
"Education awareness is a big part of what I believe in and that's what we are gonna do from the Dallas Police Department," Comeaux said. "And a lot of that is coming from our NPO officers."
Another move toward transparency is that DPD plans to hire at least three non-gun holding officers assigned to the department's internal affairs division. Comeaux said these officers will be people from outside the department so that they can investigate officers without bias.
But Comeaux wants to make it clear: He's not afraid to answer questions.
During Tuesday's meeting, he reassured board members that he will answer for both good and bad situations in the department.
"When we do good, I want you to know what the men and women of the Dallas Police Department's doing," Comeaux said. "But when we do bad, I'll say we did bad because I understand that it's a whole bunch of humans that work for the Dallas Police Department, and we're not perfect."
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