New DPD Website Posts Officer Involved Shooting Information
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas police are taking steps to be more transparent about officer involved shootings, on the day after a grand jury declined to indict a police officer for a deadly shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.
While deadly force, and law enforcement's use of it, are at the center of debates across the nation, the debut of a new DPD webpage is not connected to events in Ferguson. Dallas police officers have been criticized for a string of deadly shootings this year, and the department had previously promised detailed data on each case would be available by the end of November. So far in 2014, DPD officers have fired their weapons 19 times at suspects, resulting in 10 deaths.
The new webpage contains descriptions and information about officer involved shooting over the past 11 years. It also includes a description of the officer involved shooting investigative process, the department's deadly force policy, steps the department has taken to reduce the chances of a deadly force incident and a message from Chief David O. Brown.
"Throughout my 32 year career as a Dallas police officer, the citizens of Dallas have shown great trust and confidence in the Dallas Police Department. I understand that this trust is hard to earn, but easy to lose. My pledge is that we will continue to work as hard to maintain and improve citizens' trust as we did to earn it," said Brown.
Until this year, a Dallas police officer hadn't been indicted for a shooting in more than forty years. In that case from 1973, a 12-year-old boy, Santos Rodriguez was shot and killed while handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.
This year alone, two DPD officers have been indicted. In April, a grand jury indicted Amy Wilburn for shooting a 19-year-old carjacking suspect. Within a week, a grand jury also indicted Cardan Spencer. Surveillance cameras caught him shooting a mentally ill man in 2013. DPD fired both Wilburn and Spencer. Last June, DPD officers shot and killed a mentally ill man named Jason Harrison. That case has not been brought before a grand jury.