City Council member Adam Bazaldua on Thursday asked the Dallas Police Department to boot the Texas Department of Public Safety's troopers out of South Dallas and come up with a new crime-fighting strategy.

“What is happening right now is wrong and I'm asking that it stop,” Bazaldua said of the troopers' enforcement efforts. Several other council members and Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot joined Bazaldua, who represents South Dallas, at Dallas City Hall for the news conference.

Police in a statement defended the efforts, saying DPS has helped reduce violent crime in a high-crime area. But the news conference came a day after Bazaldua said he received an overwhelming number of complaints from his constituents, including at a South Dallas community meeting, about what they believe to be petty traffic enforcement that unfairly targets people of color.

Creuzot said in an interview that he's also heard complaints. He said he understood the police department needed extra help because it’s “seriously shorthanded,” but “the manner in which it’s being done is turning out to be kind of a horror story on that community.”

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot was interviewed by reporters after the news conference. (Ben Torres / Special Contributor)

Bazaldua said divisions between law enforcement and communities of color have grown worse because of national rhetoric. He said residents are fearful and want more "community policing" that includes officers who know the neighborhoods.

When Bazaldua was asked whether the community feels safer with increased DPS presence, residents who sat in the audience at the news conference answered loudly, "No."

Activist Changa Higgins, 46, said he has seen state troopers on every major thoroughfare in South Dallas.

Higgins, who lives in Eban Village on Park Row, said watching state troopers "creates anxiety even for me" when they're not trained to work with the community there. He said he warns his kids about police presence and is concerned for their safety whenever they come visit him.

Higgins, a former employee of The Dallas Morning News, said he feels like he's living in "a police state."

"It just feels heavy-handed, excessive, and it feels like South Dallas is being punished for the increased homicides and taking the brunt of overhanded policing tactics for the whole city," Higgins said.

Gov. Greg Abbott offered up the DPS resources to Dallas after a major spike in homicides in May — part of a larger increase in violent crime so far this year — left the city on edge. The city's police department had also struggled with response times in recent years after its ranks fell by hundreds of officers — a problem that escalated amid turmoil over their pension fund.

1 / 3Adam Bazaldua (right) of District 7 and other council members spoke out about the heavy presence of troopers in South Dallas.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor) 2 / 3City councilman Adam Bazaldua of District 7, far-right, conducts a press conference with other city council members as they speak out about the heavy presence of troopers in South Dallas, Thursday Aug. 1, 2019 at Dallas City Hall.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor) 3 / 3A silhouette of city councilman Adam Bazaldua of District 7 speaks during a press conference with other city council members as they speak out about the heavy presence of troopers in South Dallas, Thursday Aug. 1, 2019 at Dallas City Hall.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor)

Authorities have declined to release information about how many troopers are in Dallas or in what areas they work. But Texas DPS officials have said the traffic-stop-focused enforcement efforts in Dallas have led to more than 11,000 warnings, more than 400 arrests and the seizure of dozens of guns and pounds of illicit drugs. Troopers have also served 250 warrants, police said.

On Wednesday, DPS said in a statement they continue to "willingly and proudly support our partners with the Dallas Police Department in their efforts to protect the residents of the Dallas area by combating violent crime and criminal activity."

A DPS spokesperson declined to offer a new comment after Thursday's news conference.

Bazaldua said he’s not bashing DPS or police. But he said, “The majority of these stops have ended in warnings, which in my opinion raises concern.”

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam McGough, who was chairman of the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee, sent a letter to Police Chief U. Renee Hall, a DPS official and City Manager T.C. Broadnax on Thursday evening to request state troopers instead be dispatched to areas in his district -- where communities have made "loud and consistent" pleas for increased law enforcement.

McGough also criticized DPD for sharing little information about its plan to fight violent crime.

"At the beginning of this experiment, I expressed concern with the lack of transparency and defined strategy as it related to the deployment of DPS officers," McGough wrote. "I remain frustrated."

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and council members Chad West, Omar Narvaez, Jaime Resendez and Adam Medrano stood next to Bazaldua as he spoke but did not take turns at the lectern. West, Medrano and Narvaez did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the news conference.

Resendez said he appreciates the attention and resources officers have given to South Dallas but said the city needs to be careful about the extreme presence of police there.

"I've never seen such an extreme concentration of law enforcement activity in my life," Resendez said. "I'm supportive of the community members that have expressed their concerns. I think we need to take a more balanced approach when it comes to policing of certain communities."

Bazaldua said he spoke with Hall, who is still on leave from the department, and police officials, who have said they are working on a new strategy.

But in a statement released after the news conference Thursday, police defended the current strategy as an effective way to combat guns, drugs and gangs.

The statement, sent by police spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell, said police chose the area because it "had the greatest number of violent crimes."

Police said in July, the area saw a 29% reduction in violent crime, although robberies and murders remain up.

"Further, this area is still experiencing the highest volume of reported violent crime offenses of the targeted enforcement areas," police said.

The statement ended with a note that said the department "appreciates the partnership and efforts of DPS to protect the residents of Dallas by combating violent crime and criminal activity." They encouraged anyone with a complaint or concern about an interaction with a state trooper to call DPS' inspector general's office.