Dallas City Wire

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson is embroiled in a dispute with the Dallas City Council over whether to defund the Dallas Police Department and although council members stopped short of that action, they did reallocate police overtime pay to hire 95 civilian workers. They will replace police officers at desk jobs so the officers can do street patrols.

The funding will also result in studies to look into the root causes of crime in Dallas.

The council action came Sept. 24 in the wake of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May and other incidents that led to protests and riots across the country, including Dallas.

“This has been the most difficult budget that I’ve been a part of,” Councilman Omar Narvaez said at a budget meeting, according to the Texas Tribune.

Narvaez said there isn’t enough money for both police and social services to deal with crime and unrest in the community, but noted the budget would make some progress.

“I wish it was raining money on us right now but it’s not," he added. "We had to make some tough choices.” 

The Dallas City Council annual budget vote cut $7 million from $24 million allocated for police overtime pay. Some of the funding will be used to improve street lighting.

The issue pits Johnson against council members. The mayor earlier this month blasted the proposal to carve off $7 million from overtime pay, calling it inappropriate at a time when crime is rising in Dallas.

“The city of Dallas is facing a serious uptick in violent crime, and it’s not just a few days or weeks or months in the making,” Johnson was quoted in the Dallas Morning News. “We’re talking about a couple of years now of steadily increasing aggravated assaults, steadily increasing homicide and steadily increasing domestic violence. I don’t believe, and neither do the people of Dallas, that now is the right time to be defunding the police, or cutting funding to the police to send a message or anything like that.”

Johnson said safety should be a priority and recommended instead cutting the salaries of highly paid city employees.

City Council rejected an amendment by Johnson early in September calling for cuts in salaries to city employees who make more $60,000 per year.

Councilwoman Carolyn King Arnold defended the vote to divert the overtime pay saying that Dallas needed to promote programs that will diffuse a volatile situation.

“Twelve of my colleagues and I voted to reprogram $7 million in police overtime pay in order to create programs and outreach efforts that will help reduce neighborhood crime rates,” Arnold wrote in a note to her constituents, reported by NBCD5. "This action does not represent a lack of support for DPD. The DPD budget still has several million dollars available for overtime compensation. If an emergency should arise, the city manager and council could move funds from the reserve account to address the matter.”