Dallas activists clash with police oversight board: ‘You have forgotten why you exist’

Dallas activists clashed this week with the city’s Community Police Oversight Board, decrying the group as ineffective and police-centric and calling for the chairman to resign.

Some board members countered that comments about the chairman were off-base, and said their ability to hold police accountable is hamstrung by the ordinance that governs the oversight office.

During an interview Wednesday with The Dallas Morning News, Dallas police Chief Eddie García also fervently defended the police oversight chairman, but said oversight members need to do more to gain officers’ trust. The board has criticized some elements of recent shootings by officers. They’ve said they don’t get enough cooperation from the department, especially regarding allegations of wrongdoing by officers. Many rank-and-file officers refuse to participate in oversight inquiries.

In heated public comment during the oversight board’s monthly meeting Tuesday night, activists and residents — some who helped create guidelines for the board when it was revamped about three years ago — blasted oversight officials for what they called a lack of commitment to the community. They said the office and board have veered away from their purpose despite how hard people fought to make police oversight in Dallas possible.

Some activist groups pledged to protest until board Chairman Jesuorobo Enobakhare Jr. resigns, and criticized him for his regular meetings with García. They said Enobakhare has met with the chief alone, which undermines the oversight office, and he doesn’t have enough progress to show for it. Enobakhare and police oversight monitor Tonya McClary usually meet monthly with the chief, then report back to the larger board about their discussion.

Tamara Neal, who said she was at the meeting as “a fed-up Black woman,” said despite the chairman’s meetings with the chief, oversight still struggles to get any data access or transparency from Dallas police.

“You have forgotten why you exist,” Neal told the board.

“You are failing us as community members. We worked our butts off for this board, and you’re going to do the job that we put you here to do. We didn’t fight to fade into the background. We didn’t fight to change policing in Dallas for us to be here. We’re asking and we’re demanding that you do what we need you to do,” she said.

Enobakhare said he’s only been to one meeting alone with García that McClary wasn’t also invited to, and it was to bring children from a middle school in a high-crime area to see the Black Panthers movie so the kids could have a positive interaction with officers.

“And you know what?” Enobakhare said. “I would do this again if it meant a group of activists storm in demanding that I resign just because of the fact that I felt that the police department should do something good and take some children to see a movie. I would do it 10 times.”

García publicly thanked Enobakhare on Twitter for the collaboration last week. The chief told The News that Enobakhare has been an “outstanding advocate” for the board who cares about the community immensely.

“It was dreadful that he got accused of not caring about the community,” García said in an interview. “Do we agree all the time? Absolutely not. Does he push me? Absolutely. But does he also recognize the sacrifices that honorable men and women do for our community to keep them safe? Absolutely. And that’s exactly what’s needed.”

García said the system needs to be “procedurally just” for both the community and officers. He said Enobakhare is interested in not only making police more transparent and accountable, but also building and strengthening community-police relationships.

“Quite frankly, anyone that accuses him of not having taken his role seriously really has no interest in trying to build strong community-police relationships,” García said.

A revamped board

Dallas’ Office of Community Police Oversight, which is led by McClary, and the Community Police Oversight Board, which is chaired by Enobakhare, are separate entities that work together.

The oversight board comprises 15 members appointed by the Dallas City Council. It was previously called the Citizen Review Board, but it was overhauled and granted more power after an off-duty Dallas police officer still in uniform murdered Botham Jean in 2018. The City Council voted unanimously for the overhaul in April 2019 and hired McClary to lead a new Office of Community Police Oversight, which serves as a liaison between the police department and the board.

The office investigates civilian complaints as recommended by the board. The board reviews civilians’ complaints and can call for the independent investigations, and also outlines policy recommendations.

Though some on the board have criticized officers’ actions in recent police shootings, including ones that were fatal, the board largely doesn’t take action while the internal and potential criminal investigations are ongoing. The city ordinance says the oversight board’s review or investigation of an incident can’t happen until the department has finished its own investigation and decided on disciplinary action. However, the director of the oversight office is allowed to monitor the department’s investigations of critical incidents.

Activists have clashed with the oversight board in the past. In the first public meeting of the newly revamped board in 2019, tensions flared because there wasn’t a public-comment portion and some activists felt they were being silenced.

Bruce Orr, who helped with the coalition that brought forward recommendations to revamp the board, said Tuesday there’s a disconnect between the community and oversight because “none of us have sufficient information” to evaluate oversight performance or “appreciate the challenges and problems” that the board faces. He said without that information, “there is a huge vacuum” that allows people to jump to conclusions about the board’s worthiness.

Walter “Changa” Higgins, who also helped with the coalition, said the board is “no different than the Community Police Review Board that was replaced and that we fought so hard to get removed.” Higgins said oversight continues to get limited information from Dallas police and the board hasn’t made enough progress.

Board members and McClary have been vocal about challenges getting information from police. McClary has said she’s been left out of internal investigations about officer misconduct. She reiterated Tuesday she at times isn’t notified about developments in internal police investigations, and isn’t always allowed to fully navigate the scene of a critical incident like a shooting that involves an officer.

The police department and the oversight office are expected to exchange information about internal investigations that delve into shootings, excessive force and other misconduct. But the ordinance governing the oversight office lacks specifics on how and when information should be shared.

García said police abide by the charter that was developed collaboratively.

“Oftentimes the director [McClary] has access, through systems, to get a lot of information that apparently sometimes is said is not being granted,” he said. “But we work through those issues, she comes out to the scenes — I’m not quite sure exactly how we’re not abiding by the ordinance.”

Buy-in from police

The oversight board has also repeatedly brought up difficulties hearing from the rank and file because many officers have declined to respond to oversight. The ordinance allows officers to refuse subpoenas, McClary said. Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, declared earlier this year that no officers will testify or accept any oversight decisions as valid until the board goes through “at least 16 hours” of use-of-force training.

García said his question for oversight is what they’ve done to get buy-in from officers, a sentiment he also told the board early in 2022 at a retreat. He said police need to believe they’ll be judged and treated fairly, and that trust needs to be in place before officials discuss giving the board subpoena powers or changing the ordinance.

“There have to be ways to build that trust because obviously it’s lacking,” García said. “If honorable officers don’t feel they will be judged fairly in times of chaos, 911 calls will be answered, but proactive police work will suffer.”

Oversight board members have previously discussed how they’ve done use-of-force training and some officer ride-alongs, and plan to do more. Board member Arlene Steinfield said oversight has “no teeth” if officers can opt out of talking. McClary said she’s told the chief they need to go beyond the ordinance if they want change.

Board Vice Chairman Jose Rivas said if Dallas residents want change, they have to push for it — but he said the power to subpoena officers comes with great responsibility and officials need to proceed carefully.

“We have to build trust with our police officers, and we have to build trust with our community members,” Rivas said. “And I’m afraid that as long as this ordinance remains the way it is, we are not going to move forward.”