By Devyani Chhetri
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Dallas City Council will review an ordinance that sets up police staffing recommendations on Wednesday. Meanwhile, there’s still a question of whether the city will enforce a ballot measure that decriminalizes small amounts of marijuana.
Dallas City Council will discuss the ramifications of charter amendments approved by voters last week, including a Catch-22 situation brought on by possibly decriminalizing weed, in executive session Wednesday.
Proposition R, which voters passed resoundingly, decriminalizes marijuana under 4 ounces. It prohibits the police department from using the smell as probable cause for a search or seizure, as well as arresting or citing individuals for possessing four ounces or less of marijuana if a felony isn’t involved.
However, marijuana is still illegal in Texas, which means the city could be subject to legal action if it follows the charter amendment. Earlier this year, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued five other municipalities, including Austin and Denton, which passed similar measures.
“I will not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities,” Paxton said.
On the other hand, voters also approved Prop S, which waives government immunity and opens the city up to legal action if it doesn’t follow the charter amendment.
At Wednesday’s meeting, council members are also expected to weigh in on a 1988 policy recommending the city hire three officers for every 1,000 residents.
The city failed to meet the ratio in recent years, according to Pete Marocco, leader of Dallas Hero, a nonprofit that led a successful push to enact Proposition U. The charter amendment approved by voters last week requires Dallas to add about 900 more officers to its workforce of 3,100. Dallas has about 1.3 million residents.
“Dallas should be the gold standard,” Marocco said in an Oct. 23 interview.
There are currently 2.2 police officers for every 1000 residents, he said, but he pointed to the city ordinance’s recommendations.
The city has been unable to meet its recruitment goals for years, and that’s not an issue unique to Dallas. More Americans are opting out of applying for government jobs overall, according to a report from the International Association of Chiefs of Police based on a 2019 survey.
The language in the 1988 ordinance was crafted after the creation of the Dallas Citizens Police Review Board, which was reestablished as the Community Police Oversight Board in 2019.
“Upon review, it was determined the recommendations in the City Manager’s Proposals for Improvement of the Police Department have either been achieved or are outdated. The proposed ordinance repeals these 1988 policy recommendations,” Assistant City Manager Dominique Artis said in a memo outlining the background of the ordinance.
Prop U is the second Dallas Hero proposal approved by voters. Not enforcing Prop U also puts the city in line for a potential lawsuit because of the passage of Prop S.
“With the passage of Proposition U, this reactive egotistical move is a deliberate attempt by city officials to undermine the clear mandate from the voters,” Marocco said ahead of Wednesday’s vote. “They’re just being sore losers and making it worse.”
Council members have told The Dallas Morning News that city officials are examining the scope of the impact these propositions will have on city services.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
