The city of Dallas rang in the New Year with a “Call Diversion” plan that constitutes a major downgrade in the level of service that the Dallas police department will provide to the public. To make matters worse, the downgrade was being kept a secret. An internal memo informed police dispatchers to start directing callers to a website called Dallas Online Reporting System (DORS). There was no formal public announcement.
However, the internal meme was leaked. Within hours of hitting social media, Texas Governor Greg Abbot denounced the move on Twitter. This led to an immediate public statement by the Dallas Police department [DPD]. The statement referred to the list of items in the memo as “Priority 4 calls” and confirmed that the memo had in fact been given to the staff of the call center. However, DPD alleged that “the actions set out in the memorandum have been rescinded at this time.”
However, there is direct evidence that the “Call Diversion” plan is not actually being rescinded. According to Dallas City Council member Jennifer Gates, the plan outlined in the memo is not a final version. The final details of the plan will be discussed on January 11th at a meeting of the Public Safety Committee. So the plan appears to still be happening, the final version just might not include all thirteen items listed in the original version.
Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata also confirmed that a downgrade in police services is coming. Mata said that violent crime in the city is sucking up too many resources. He said that without more officers, the police simply can’t respond to all calls.
The city of Dallas had 251 homicides in 2020. A 26% increase over 2019. Despite the surging crime, Dallas City Council caved to far-left militant groups and agreed to strip their law enforcement overtime budget by $7 million on September 23, 2020. The $7 million is allegedly being diverted to hire new city workers, fund social programs, and erect new street lights.
Police will no longer be dispatched if you call them to report the following:
ATTEMPT UUMV (attempted auto theft)
BMV (burglary of a motor vehicle)
BMV – AUTO ACCESSORY (burglary of something attached to a motor vehicle)
CREDIT/DEBIT CARD ABUSE
CRIMINAL MISCHIEF
GRAFFITI
HARASSMENT ELECTRONIC COMM DEVICE
IDENTITY THEFT
LOST PROPERTY
RECKLESS DAMAGE
RUNAWAY
WANT TO LOCATE
INTERFERENCE WITH CHILD CUSTODY
Of course, what will actually happen is residents of Dallas will cease reporting all kinds of crimes because they know nothing will happen. Then Dallas city officials will point to a reduction in reported crimes and make false claims that “crime has gone down.”
