Several national and state police associations, including the Dallas Police Association, are calling for a change in leadership at the Dallas Police Department.
The call for change came on the heels of a DPA survey in which 40% of officers surveyed said morale in the department is the lowest it’s ever been.
The association has been especially vocal of Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s leadership.
On Wednesday, representatives from the Texas Municipal Police Association, the National Association of Police Organizations, the National Black Police Association, the Dallas Fraternal Order of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police all voiced their concerns about Brown’s leadership.
“We are here today, unified by our belief that the Dallas Police Department is broken,” said Rochelle Bilal, the vice chairperson of the National Black Police Association.
While none of the associations directly called for Brown’s removal, they made it clear that the Dallas Police Department needs new leadership.
Bilal said members of the department have made numerous complaints about Brown. She also said that Brown had retaliated against officers in the past, but declined to go into specifics because she feared further retaliation.
According to Bilal, the problems have come to a boiling point.
“At some point, it has to stop,” she said. “We decided we have to be part of this effort to be part of a new philosophy and a new direction.”
Cletus Judge, the president of the local Black Police Association of Greater Dallas, defended Brown’s leadership.
The Black Police Association of Greater Dallas severed ties from the national association during Judge’s tenure as president. Bilal said Judge has not asked his members for their opinions and is acting on his own.
Bilal also added that this situation has nothing to do with race.
“The National Black Police Association denounces Brown’s supporters who claim that this is nothing more than a group of whites striking at a black chief,” Bilal said.
The calls for the change in leadership philosophy comes a week after three City Council members privately met with City Manager A.C. Gonzalez about Brown’s future.
Mike Rawlings, the Mayor of the city of Dallas, said that the council members tried to get Gonzalez to fire Chief Brown, but two of the council members at the meeting deny the claim.
In an email to the Dallas Morning News, Brown said that he stood by his earlier response that the unions’ attacks on him are a part of the job for past Dallas chiefs and police leaders nationwide.
