Some Dallas Police Officers Call City 'No Hope, Texas'
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It's a new name some Dallas Police officers have given to the city that they hope will bring more attention to the need for more officers.
No Hope, Texas is what the president of the Dallas Police Association is renaming the city in a new social media post.
The DPA has been working to sort through exactly how many officers the department has and determined the latest number is 2,785.
That's lower than it's been in a decade and 800 below the number allocated.
The president of the officers association posted the numbers on Facebook with a warning that the department will have to resort to what he calls triage policing without more officers.
"If we don't increase manpower we are going to have to tell the citizens, 'I'm sorry we can't help you find your lawnmower we can't help you with the barking dog those calls we just can't answer'," said Sgt. Michael Mata, Dallas Police Association President.
The DPA says only about 15-hundred of the department's officers answer calls which is about 300 below what's needed.