Updated, 6:21 p.m.: Revised to include additional details and statements.
Dallas City Council members on Wednesday voted unanimously to expand the power of its board that hears complaints about police misconduct.
The vote occurred after months of town hall discussions — which often laid bare political and racial tension between Dallas residents — and some initial push-back from law enforcement organizations. Several members of the Citizens Police Review Board — which will now be renamed the Community Police Oversight Board — called the vote a "historic victory," and activists lauded the effort required to win the unanimous vote.
The Rev. Michael Waters, senior pastor at Joy Tabernacle AME, said at a news conference afterward that he was “grateful to stand with all of these, who have stood for this cause of justice.”
The board’s final restructuring amounted to far less than what activists had initially wanted. The revamped board still won’t have subpoena power over officers or the ability to conduct independent investigations of critical incidents such as police-involved shootings. And the police chief still maintains all final decisions related to discipline.
But the overhaul will create a new position called a monitor — effectively a liaison between the police department and the board. The monitor will review completed police investigations and report the findings to board members.
Activists have long complained the board is toothless. They made calls over the years for more oversight power, but those demands took on an added sense of political urgency after the shooting death of 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean, who is black, by a white off-duty police officer.
The officer, Amber Guyger, was fired and will be tried for murder in the shooting, but the outcry for the city to do something amplified the discussions over the board.
Public Safety & Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Adam McGough said he was pleased with the final proposal after working with a community coalition group, Police Chief U. Renee Hall and Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata.
Mayor Mike Rawlings said he was "proud of how we went about” the process.
"Now something different is going to happen in this city," Rawlings said.
Council member Rickey Callahan, who represents Pleasant Grove, said he had a “knee jerk” reaction to the initial recommendations for the board, but found the resolution to be a compromise.
“I’m going to support this because I think it’s a balanced measure and will have a wait-and-see attitude,” Callahan said.
Mata, who initially opposed granting the board additional powers, said he was satisfied that an agreement came with the help of city attorneys. He said the lawyers were able to explain to the activists some of the legal liabilities involved with their initial recommendations.
Mata said his biggest concern is ensuring that officers have due process during investigations, which he believed was at risk with a potential civilian board that had new investigative powers.
“I am a bit concerned when that incident does occur that emotions and activism will attempt to force for the goal post to be moved,” Mata said. “I have to have faith in the chief and the council to maintain the integrity of this agreement.”
The board in its current iteration took shape in the 1980s after civil rights groups and black City Council members pushed for more oversight following a series of shootings by police and a congressional hearing about the department's use of lethal force. But in the face of police association opposition, the board remained relatively weak.
The new guidelines in oversight are a first for the city of Dallas. After the unanimous vote, activists who helped with recommendations applauded in the council chambers.
Dr. Brian Williams, the board’s chairman, said “he was very proud to be part of this historic moment.”
“I look forward to when we look back in time and say ‘Hey, we did something that had impact, that wasn’t just symbolic,’ ” Williams said.
In a news conference, members from a coalition of black clergy said the vote was a step in equity and accountability following high-profile shootings of unarmed black men. They added the changes were not “anti-police.”
Former Dallas City Council member Diane Ragsdale, who initially pushed the board’s creation more than 30 years ago, said Wednesday that the city now has to make sure the board "is not diminished, and that it’s done to what we have desired."
Dominique Alexander, one of the leading advocates for changes to the board, went Wednesday to City Hall after he was released from jail on bond. Some public speakers against the changes said before the vote that Alexander’s pending domestic violence charges ought to make the council reconsider the changes for which he advocated.
Alexander, a fixture at large protests in the region, stayed largely out of the limelight and took a back seat at the news conference.. He said he came out to the vote because “this was years in the making.”
“It’s not about one individual,” he said. “It’s about the unit and all the activism that led to this moment.”
