Dallas’ police oversight monitor who pushed for reform is leaving job after 3 years

Dallas’ top police watchdog is leaving her job after three years overseeing complaints into the nation’s ninth largest police department, an unprecedented role created after community outrage over officer shootings and misconduct.

Tonya McClary, the first civilian to gain access to DPD internal affairs records, is leaving effective Sept. 21, according to an email by City Manager T.C. Broadnax obtained by The Dallas Morning News. McClary confirmed her departure, but did not immediately provide comment. The reason she’s leaving was unclear, and was not spelled out in Broadnax’s email. The city did not specify when asked by The News on Friday.

Her departure also was not mentioned during formal discussions at Tuesday’s monthly meeting for Dallas’ Community Police Oversight Board.

Broadnax said in a statement to the The News that McClary “played an integral role in advancing critical projects and initiatives during her tenure. She will be missed, but we [wish] her the very best.”

Through a city spokesperson, Broadnax told The News that Dallas plans to conduct a national search for a new permanent oversight monitor. The process will be “similar to the last one,” he said. He did not answer a question about when Dallas plans to have the new permanent monitor in place.

Broadnax appointed Elaine Chandler as McClary’s interim replacement. She has been the employee relations manager in the city’s human resources department since 2019, the email said. It’s unclear if she has held any criminal justice or policing-related roles. Broadnax did not note any in his email, but said she “is particularly experienced in upholding ethics, conducting and overseeing investigations, and mediating disputes.”

Chandler, who could not be reached for comment, served as director of human resources in the health care industry and has experience in strategic planning and conflict resolution, Broadnax wrote.

Dallas police Chief Eddie García did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday about McClary’s departure.

In the three years McClary led Dallas’ oversight office, she was one of the most vocal city officials pushing for police reform. She spearheaded a hotline to document experiences by protesters during 2020 civil unrest after George Floyd’s murder, and drew attention to policies regarding arrests for small amounts of marijuana and other low-level misdemeanors, Broadnax said in the email.

She also helped craft Dallas police’s video-release policy, which mandates the department release footage of critical police incidents within 72 hours unless the chief decides to withhold it.

McClary, a pastor and criminal defense lawyer, held a similar role in New Orleans before she came to Dallas in February 2020. She was one of three employees in the Dallas office, whose proposed budget, including staff, for the next year is $863,890. Her former office in New Orleans, which has a police department roughly a third of the size of the one in Dallas, had a budget of $1.1 million.

The City Council hired McClary to lead a new police oversight office in April 2019 and voted unanimously for an overhaul of what is called Dallas’ Community Police Oversight Board. The board and office are separate entities and meet monthly to discuss civilian complaints into Dallas police officers.

The board is made up of 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. She was convicted and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Jesuorobo Enobakhare Jr., chairman of Dallas’ Community Police Oversight Board, said McClary made history as the first police monitor and director of oversight, and “every action she took in this dual role was historic.”

“Most of the reforms to DPD that have taken place since 2020 have her DNA on them,” he said.

She took a blank canvas, he said, and created policies and procedures for the ordinance that governed the oversight office while supporting the oversight board. She created a new process for civilians to lodge complaints against officers and was a “great partner” to him and the city.

“I thank her for the grace in which she assumed the Herculean task that was before her when she arrived in Dallas and for how she executed her duties while being both overtasked and understaffed,” Enobakhare said. “Her work and her achievements will have a lasting positive impact on the city of Dallas.”

McClary navigated numerous obstacles and was outspoken about the challenges of her job. The ordinance governing the office lacks specifics on when and how Dallas police should share information with oversight.

McClary said in the past the department didn’t keep her updated on the status of some investigations, such as its probe in 2021 into Sgt. Roger Rudloff, who shot a protester at close range with pepper balls during George Floyd protests. Rudloff was cleared of any wrongdoing. He retired this year, according to an internal police roster.

The ordinance also forbids oversight from discussing cases with pending civil litigation, which can be the most high-profile. In the board’s monthly meetings, McClary often said oversight was unable to discuss its investigation into the death of Diamond Ross in Dallas police custody after Ross’ family filed a civil lawsuit.

One of the most salient concerns repeated in the board’s monthly meetings revolved around officers’ unwillingness to cooperate. The Dallas Police Association encourages officers to ignore oversight interview requests, and the vast majority have done just that, oversight officials have said. The ordinance allows officers to refuse subpoenas, McClary has said.

García has said oversight representatives needed to gain officers’ trust, a sentiment criticized by some board members who said it shouldn’t be necessary. Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

In early July, McClary was a finalist for the police monitor role in Boulder, Colo, but ultimately wasn’t chosen, The Denver Gazette reported.

Changa Higgins, who helped with the coalition that brought recommendations to revamp the oversight board, said Dallas needed to show they were serious about doing something different with policing, and McClary was the right fit for the role.

He said the oversight office is underfunded and understaffed. There is a perception from elected officials the office is only supposed to field complaints when it was meant for much more, he said.

He said McClary did well fighting for transparency and accountability, and battled to get police data. McClary noted in a report she helped author earlier this year that DPD wouldn’t provide her with low-level misdemeanor arrest data.

“She was handcuffed for a lot of reasons — city bureaucracy, the perception of what the oversight board is supposed to do,” Higgins said. “There are a few things that affected what she was able to do.”

He said some people have said McClary was “hard” and “not liked,” but he noted her role wasn’t intended to be “everyone’s friend.”

“She’s an investigative arm of the city for the police,” he said. “That’s a hard position — especially in Dallas.”

Staff writer Yamil Berard contributed to this report.