Mayor Eric Johnson’s letter demanding a prompt crime plan came as a surprise to many in the city, including council members, former law enforcement and some members of his community task force. Some wondered Wednesday whether it signaled a shift in his confidence in how violent crime is being addressed by the Dallas Police Department.

While a request for a crime plan is not unusual from a mayor, it was a bold move by Johnson to issue a public letter stating his grievances with the police response, observers said Wednesday.

In the letter, hand-delivered to city manager T. C. Broadnax on Tuesday, Johnson didn’t mince words. He cited rising crime statistics and told the city manager that he did “not believe the City Council has received a sufficiently clear explanation of what is driving this increase or what the police department’s specific plan is to reverse it.” On Wednesday, Broadnax responded to the mayor’s letter, saying he also shared frustration about the increase in crime and promised to work with Police Chief U. Reneé Hall on a city-wide plan to present to council.

So far this year there have been 194 homicides, with the city well on track for its highest number of homicides in more than a decade. Also, assaults involving guns are up about 27% from last year, according to the Police Department’s crime dashboard, while robberies are up 15%.

The mayor’s letter came with a tight deadline for Hall to present the crime-reduction plan by the end of the year and to brief the council’s Public Safety Committee in January.

What next

Randall Blankenbaker, a retired assistant chief who spent nearly 29 years with DPD, said the mayor’s letter makes “not an unreasonable request.” But the way the request was presented does appear to be out of the ordinary, he said.

“In my experience, these requests are typically done in a public safety committee meeting or other staff meetings. By using a formal memo, Mayor Johnson appears to be making a strong statement of his intent to see a plan to address Dallas’ crime rate,” he said.

What Johnson’s letter means going forward for Broadnax and Hall is unclear.

Johnson, through his spokesman, declined an interview request with The Dallas Morning News. Hall did not respond to requests for comment. Unlike in other cities, the mayor of Dallas does not have much power. In the city’s strong city-manager form of government, he cannot fire the city manager or chief of police. Broadnax, who hired Hall in 2017, has discretion over the chief’s employment. And the mayor would need a majority of the council to remove the city manager.

Broadnax issued a statement Wednesday evening that he will work with Hall on a crime reduction plan “to drive change and make Dallas a model city for fighting crime.”

“As the City Manager, I share the community’s concern and frustration about the rising crime rate. Chief Hall and the Dallas Police Department have implemented some important initiatives to fight these trends, but I don’t believe that it has been organized into a comprehensive citywide plan,” Broadnax said in a prepared statement.

The News sent the mayor’s office questions asking if there’s support from council to remove Broadnax or pressure to remove Hall, and what happens if crime reduction goals are not met within a certain time frame, but received no response to those questions.

In the fall, Johnson said in interviews that he had confidence in Hall and was hesitant to call the spike in violent crime a “public safety crisis.” In the letter, Johnson does say he believes Dallas is “relatively safe for a major U.S. city,” but he made clear he was not happy with the response to crime so far.

In a statement, spokesman Tristan Hallman said that “through 11 months of 2019, the violent crime increase has been unacceptable, and the mayor believes the public is entitled to a clear and transparent plan to reduce violent crime in 2020.”

Chief in spotlight

Alex Piquero, a University of Texas-Dallas criminology professor, serves on the mayor’s safe communities task force, which aims to address crime by fighting poverty and other non-police activities.

"It's fair for the mayor to demand that his team do the best job they can," Piquero said. "And if he doesn't think they're doing a good job to re-orientate."

He also acknowledged that Hall is in a unique position, reporting directly to the city manager rather than the mayor like police chiefs do in most other major cities.

"She's trying to serve many people," he said before adding: "When you're the Dallas police chief or Dallas Cowboys head coach, you're there. You're in the big leagues. You're prime time. And when you're a big city police chief, you have to know that going in. You're going to be in the news all the time. It comes with the territory of the position."

Piquero said he would expect for Johnson, Broadnax and Hall to meet soon and hash out more specifics that include short-term and long-term strategies. He said Hall needs to be realistic in setting goals that match the resources she has.

Residents and elected officials also should recognize Dallas is a reasonably safe community and that any new efforts to reduce violence, especially murders, will take time, Piquero said.

Other strategies urged

Jerry Hawkins, executive director with the Dallas Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, a nonprofit organization in Dallas, said he felt politics placed Hall in an “unfair” position. Hawkins said city officials have a greater responsibility in preventing crime than police officers do.

“Police respond to crime,” Hawkins said, adding that if officials want to prevent crime, then the city needs to tackle the underlying issues such as poverty, racial and economic segregation.

“What happens if the city does an investment like that in South Dallas or Oak Cliff?” he said. “What would [public safety] look like from a city that has also contributed in creating poverty and not done anything to fix it?”

In a meeting with The News editorial board last month, Hall and members of her command staff said that they have seen slight reductions in crime since the spike in the summer. Hall defended a joint-operation with the Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, who were called in to help patrol high-crime areas. Hall said the department was transparent and held several meetings with neighborhood associations to inform them of the increased enforcement.

Derrick Battie, a longtime South Oak Cliff community member who also sits on the mayor’s anti-crime task force, said he still supports Hall and “hopes she has been given the resources she needs” to tackle the uptick in crime. He doesn’t think the mayor’s letter indicates a rift in city leadership.

“I support Mayor Johnson. He’s holding individuals accountable in regards to leadership,” Battie said. “I think at this point, our mayor’s just asking the question.”

Staff writer Nic Garcia contributed to this report.