As part of our Black & Blue series examining the Dallas Police Department’s handling of officer violence in recent decades, reporters uncovered numerous ways the nation’s ninth-largest force has failed to meet U.S. Department of Justice standards.
The Dallas Morning News identified the lapses during reviews of department protocols and dozens of previously unreported internal investigations into complaints of brutality against officers. Law enforcement experts across the nation helped reporters evaluate the documentation.
“These are the types of problems we see in the internal affairs investigations of police departments that have patterns of misconduct,” said Christy Lopez, a former deputy chief for the justice department’s civil rights division, referring to lax department protocols and other News findings.
Lopez, now a Georgetown University law professor, led investigations into patterns of bad practices in the Ferguson, Mo., police force and others nationally that resulted in court-ordered changes. “When you don’t take these sorts of complaints seriously enough, that’s when a culture of impunity begins to develop, and you get patterns of violating people’s rights.”
Here are eight questions with answers that help explain how Dallas police veer from federal standards:
1. When should use of force by police officers be investigated as a crime?
The justice department’s recommendation: A complaint that “alleges or suggests that an officer’s use of force was willfully, intentionally, recklessly or knowingly excessive or unreasonable” should be classified as a criminal complaint.
Dallas police policy mandates a criminal investigation if an officer kills or seriously injures someone. Serious injury is defined as force that causes serious permanent disfigurement or impairs the body’s function. But Dallas does not require a criminal investigation based on an accusation that an officer willfully or recklessly used force.
2. Is there a policy that guides detectives on when to consult with prosecutors during criminal investigations into allegations of officer brutality?
Justice department recommendation: Law enforcement agencies should develop an “explicitly codified protocol” for the presentation of cases for potential prosecution. Federal officials advise that such protocols be developed with district attorney offices.
Dallas police say they have no written protocol.
3. Do detectives analyze an accused officer’s history of complaints for patterns?
Justice department recommendation: Facts revealing “a pattern of conduct should be considered.” For example, when an officer has been accused of the same act before in other cases involving other complainants, there may be reason to believe that the current case is not isolated.
An examination of dozens of Dallas internal investigations by The News found no indication detectives analyzed accused officers’ complaint histories for patterns. Dallas police have used computer programs to track complaints against officers. Top police officials declined to discuss their effectiveness. A new $900,000 system was projected to be up and running in 2021. Police officials recently told The News the system is not in use. They would not explain why.
4. Can people call in complaints about officers 24 hours a day?
Justice department recommendation: 24-hour hotlines help create an “effective complaint process.”
Dallas police agreed in 2019 to install a 24-hour complaint hotline to take complaints against officers by phone, but has not done so. The public can submit complaints online 24 hours a day.
5. Do internal affairs investigators need investigative experience?
Justice department recommendation: Those selected to serve in internal affairs “must possess highly advanced investigation skills” similar to those used in conducting criminal investigations.
Dallas police say investigative experience is considered an “asset” but is not mandatory. Officials told The News that “every patrol officer has investigative experience gained through their calls for service.” Lopez, the former justice department official, said that is not adequate. “They need to be trained specifically in how to investigate police officers,” she said.
6. Do internal affairs detectives record interviews?
Justice department recommendation: Electronic recording of the live, word-for-word statements of all interviewees, including accused employees, is the best practice.
The police department told The News that internal affairs detectives record interviews “on a case-by-case basis.” The department’s public integrity detectives, who investigate potential crimes by officers, record most interviews.
7. What if officers’ statements don’t match other evidence?
Justice department recommendation: Each investigative report should contain a detailed, comprehensive summary and identify inconsistencies among statements and evidence.
Dallas police officials declined to say what steps they take to ensure investigators identify discrepancies between officers’ statements and evidence. A News review of internal excessive force investigations into former Officer Christopher Hess showed detectives’ summaries rarely highlighted differences between officers’ accounts and other evidence.
8. Who audits DPD’s internal investigations?
Justice department recommendation: Police departments should consider creating units that audit investigative practices to determine whether policies are being followed and to pinpoint weaknesses in systems. Such audits “let the public know that the agency takes its integrity seriously.”
Dallas police do not have an internal compliance unit. They declined to say whether they have considered forming one, and said there are no plans to audit practices in the near future. Dallas’ city auditor office occasionally evaluates police practices, and last looked into its internal investigative processes in 2019.
