Nine officers have been fired so far and more terminations are expected this week as part of Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle's spring cleaning efforts aimed at improving the department's image. (Dallasblog and CrimProf blog have details. Here is the Dallas News coverage.) Unfair Park says the rank and file are grumbling, quoting a website called UndergroundCop.com where Dallas cops allegedly badmouthed another officer who was a target of misconduct in anonymous postings.
Look for this episode to turn nasty quickly when the police association responds, I suspect, in a very public donnybrook. Chiefs and Sheriffs rarely risk the wrath of their officers' unions by engaging in serial terminations like this, no matter how justified. Anytime a department fires an officer, much less several of them, it risks substantial political backlash. In El Paso, for example, the sheriff deputies' association right now is running attack ads on the radio criticizing the local sheriff for firing two officers, South Texas Chisme reports.
Such bullying media tactics, discouragingly, work more often than you'd expect - it'll be interesting to see how the Dallas Police Officers Association responds, and how well Chief Kunkle sticks to his guns.
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2 comments:
I'm posting anon because I live right around the corner from the police association. ;) But seriously, the dept NEEDS some cleaning up. There are cops misbehaving all the time out on our streets. I can't tell you how many times I've been cut off on the highway near downtown Dallas by a cop doing a good 20-30 over the limit, only to see him exit to grab a beverage at 7-11. I understand that they have a need for excessive speed when they are chasing perps, but I don't think that slurpee did anything wrong.
I am posting anonmymous because of the possible backlash. There are some officers that are being treated unfairly because of some family ties in the department. This should not happen, Some people get in trouble only because someone has a family member on the police department and citizens are not being treated equally when officers speak up about this issue
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