With at least one lawmaker's support, a Dallas coalition wants to test police officers for racial bias, stop jailing people for petty crimes, and transform a criminal justice system that "continues to create animosity between the police force and members of the communities they are sworn to serve."

But the proposals--which capped off a series of meetings sponsored by The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Institute of Humanities, dubbed Actions Speak Louder--are still just words on paper.

The nonprofit that drafted the reforms, Faith in Texas, has not named any law enforcement groups or power brokers that might push for the changes, though its leaders say endorsements are in the works.

Even Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who previewed the manifesto with others on Saturday and has championed many of the ideas in it, couched his support after learning it would discourage residents from reporting petty crimes to police.

"No one in here has actually changed how public decisions get made. Not yet," Faith in Texas' director of urban strategies, Rev. Edwin Robinson, acknowledged to an audience in the gymnasium of El Centro College — near where an enraged black gunman massacred police officers three months ago.

As copies of the plan were passed around, Robinson told about 70 audience members not to share what they saw. He called the plan a "living document" that could change before it's officially unveiled later this month.

The document portrayed broken police and court systems in which blacks are over-jailed, officer training emphasizes violence over peacemaking, and ex-convicts are so stigmatized that they often return to prison.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins (right) discusses criminal justice reforms Sturday with Tom Huang of The Dallas Morning News and Larry Allums of the Dallas Institute of Humanities. (Avi Selk / Staff)

Among the solutions proposed:

Require more "de-escalation" training for police, and make new applicants take a test that can reveal unconscious racial bias.

Prohibit prospective private employers from considering convictions more than seven years old when reviewing job applications.

Create an independent group of civilians and sworn officers to review police departments' lethal force standards. Empower a special state prosecutor, rather than the district attorney's office, to investigate police officers who kill or seriously injure someone.

Stop letting police seize suspicious cash and property from people — often keeping it even if the owner isn't charged with a crime.

Raise officers' wages, and pay bonuses to those who live in the communities they serve.

Let cities ban the open carry of guns.

Stop clogging jails with people accused of minor offenses. Marijuana possession, spitting, drinking on the street and other such infractions "do not threaten the public and are often used" to target minorities and the poor, the paper argues.

Jenkins — who presides over Dallas County's lawmaking body and helps govern the jail — said he agreed with nearly everything in the paper and would likely endorse it if asked.

"These are all things I'm already supporting and we're already working on," he said.

But near the end of the proposal, the judge came across an unfamiliar addendum: a city-wide plan to reduce gang and police shootings.

Under the plan, a coalition of civilians, researchers and law enforcement officials would go into violent neighborhoods and urge rival gang members to stop shooting one another. Meanwhile, neighbors would be urged to report petty crimes to the coalition instead of police.

"The hope is that these community leaders can help to deescalate situations that would normally lead to a negative interaction with police," the plan says, crediting the strategy with reducing violence in other cities.

Jenkins wasn't quite convinced.

"This would be something we'd have to work through," he said. "You're talking about a group going out and conveying a message to call them rather than the police. That's going to need to have buy-in from the police."

It's unclear if it does. Faith in Texas, which has led three community meetings since the July attack, plans an event in late October to unveil the final version of its reforms.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly suggested that the manifesto's contents were developed in previous Actions Speak Louder meetings.