Dallas City Wire

It was called a “Back the Blue” rally, but organizers are happy no one ended up black and blue.

An Oct. 2 rally held at Dallas City Hall was organized by Keep Dallas Safe, a pro-police organization. But Black Lives Matter allegedly protestors attempted to disrupt it.  As a potential confrontation seemed possible, Dallas police officers, including some off-duty police hired to work security, moved away from the rally, according to KDS spokeswoman Amy Gibson.

“Keep Dallas Safe is a group of Dallas residents who are concerned with the state of crime in the city of Dallas, and the City Council's reluctance to allow the Dallas Police Department to do its job effectively,” Gibson told Dallas City Wire. “The goal of the rally was to inform Dallas residents of the City Council's vote to cut the police overtime budget by $7 million, and to show the city council and other public leaders that the citizens of Dallas want safety in their streets. The continual capitulation to anti-police groups such as Black Lives Matter causes real public safety threats, and we are not going to stand for it.”

John Basham, a consulting meteorologist and former two-term city council member in Reno, a small community northwest of Fort Worth, is a member of Keep Dallas Safe.

“The rally goals are apparent in the name,” Basham told Dallas City Wire. “We wanted to let the city’s politicians know their actions to reduce the police budget at a time when the city and region are seeing a drastic increase in violent crime will clearly make our city unsafe."

Rally organizers worked with the Dallas Police Department in advance and also hired several off-duty officers, she said.

“While preparing for our Oct. 2 rally, we worked closely with the DPS in the weeks leading up to the event. We informed them of the time, place and crowd we expected,” Gibson said. “The DPD came out before the rally to set up metal barricades, and informed us we would be staying in the area in front of City Hall, and that there was a designated area for protestors on the opposite side of the courtyard. We were told we would stay in our area, and they would stay in theirs.

“Instead, while our amazing speakers were talking to the crowd about the necessity of taking public safety seriously, our rally was interrupted by a group led by Dominique Alexander, a notable Black Lives Matter leader,” she said. “They were drowning out our speakers with loud noises and chants, and threatening our attendees and speakers. While Keep Dallas Safe agrees completely in their right to assemble and protest, we felt Keep Dallas Safe was held to a standard they were not.”

Gibson still doesn’t understand why the off-duty police officers hired for the rally departed when the opposition protestors intruded on their space. The officers hired to provide security did not do so at that moment.

“No, once the group led by Alexander began walking toward our rally, the officers were told to ‘stand down,’” she said. “We were informed there were many officers in the area, and they were watching but would not be visible by anyone in the rally area. We are unsure who made that call or why.”

Basham said he witnessed the officers withdraw.

“The officers fell back from our designated rally area after BLM activists began using bullhorns to drown out our rally,” he said. “We were given no reason why their absence made the safety of both our group and the unpermitted BLM group perilous at best.

“Every voice has a right to be heard. But the city has decided to give BLM free rein either for fear of retaliation or a lack of any true convictions of their own."

They didn’t want anyone stifled, but they did want the security they had arranged in advance, Gibson said.

“Keep Dallas Safe believes firmly in the right of assembly and the right to protest," she said. "Where we, and believe the city, should draw the line is when the protests become disruptive, violent or dangerous to the protestors or others in the area. This includes the damaging or theft of public and private property. There are several members of the Dallas City Council who have made their position on ‘defunding the police’ very clear – they publicly and privately support reallocating police department funds and believe parts of Dallas are ‘over-policed.’”

Basham said the council members don't deal with the daily reality of life in Dallas.

“It is the very first job of government to keep their citizens safe. Dallas police must be allowed to do their job. “Their budget should remain intact at a time when violence and murder are on the rise.”

The council had discussed cutting $7 million from the police overtime budget. After considerable public outcry, the reduction in the $24 million overtime budget was approved, but $3.8 million was allocated to pay for new non-sworn staffers in the department.

The theory is that allocation will free up officers to perform more police work and less paperwork. The other $3.2 million will be spent in various ways, including some intended to reduce crime.

Gibson said a majority of the City Council seems to have an anti-police attitude despite signs that Dallas needs increased law enforcement. Keep Dallas Safe is supporting people to seek a seat on the council.

“Keep Dallas Safe and the citizens of Dallas can read the crime reports and see there has been an uptick in crime this year all over the city," she said. "We are concerned with unrest occurring around the presidential election, and that the city is ill-prepared to deal with that. We believe this is a conscious effort by certain City Council members to hamstring the Dallas Police Department, and give credence to anti-police protesters while ignoring the citizens’ continued requests to feel safe.”

That’s what happened at the Keep Dallas Safe rally, in her view. Despite plans to keep the event secure, things could have gone wrong.

Basham wants everyone to have an opportunity to express their point of view but in a safe manner.

“The idea of permitted and unpermitted protests always rubbed me wrong," he said. "Again, all voices in America should be heard. We should respect everyone’s right to protest and peaceably assemble to redress our grievances against the government. It’s when those protests are no longer peaceful, when they threaten violence, mayhem and crime unless the mob gets their way, that we must act to stop these protestors turned mobs. Protests are great. Violent mobs must be stopped not encouraged.”