Dallas Under-Funding Police to the Point Where Life-Threatening Calls Go Unanswered

[dlh]

Not very familiar with the Dallas area.
Wife got us a good deal on Southwest so we be flying out of Love Field in the future.
We stay a night at "Candlewood Suites" Love Field by the Stemmons Freeway before we catch our flight. Thug area? Or safe?

The area near Love Field is mixed. I would suggest that you confirm what kind of security they have and why or why not. For example, do they have a secure (fenced / gated lot) and full time armed security? You may consider looking to a hotel a little farther out, say like in Addisson. I can lock your HG up in my home safe if you don't have a vehicle safe and wish to travel to Dallas with your HG.

Thanks for the kind offer Bitter! I think I found a relative who can keep my HG while we are gone!

[dlh]

We stay a night at "Candlewood Suites" Love Field by the Stemmons Freeway before we catch our flight. Thug area? Or safe?

It's not the worst part of town, but not the best either. It's not far from some of the seedy "night life" areas. You'll see individuals and small groups wandering around at all hours of the night.

Keep your situational awareness and you'll likely be fine. I would not leave anything of value in my car.

Thanks for the info Pawpaw!

[stroo]

A friend of mine is a Dallas City police officer. According to him, the staffing levels are so low that detectives only have 30 minutes to handle any case. They can't hardly start in that time. He is very frustrated.

[Bitter Clinger]

Well, this sure won't help!

Long-standing Dallas juvenile curfew set to expire next month, http://www.fox4news.com/news/long-stand ... next-month

[cheezit]

I spent 22 years working in dealerships on diesel truck. I will say hope you never have to get picked up by a Dallas fire dept ambulance. They were the most beat up poorly maintained ems vehicles I have ever come across

[orionengnr]

Nothing to see here, folks. Just move on...

[talltex]

Dallas Police See Exodus as Doubts Rise on Pension Promises

Dallas Police and Fire Pension Backs Cutbacks to Avoid Collapse

Dallas squares off with another city pension fund — this time the one for civilian employees

There is the real problem-follow the money. The pension fund managers for DPD and DFD kept increasing benefits based on unrealistic long term returns on investment promised by real estate investment trusts and other high risk/high return strategies. The Pension fund Board bought into this scenario and kept offering more benefits and options for early withdrawals without penalties. Like all ponzi schemes, that only works as long as you have people continuing to pump more money in than is being taken out. When cracks started to show in the fund, more officers started pulling money out at a higher rate than projected. They had a helluva pension plan. I know several guys living here over 100 miles from Dallas that put in their 20 years and retired with a great package guaranteed to them and then went to work for the local departments, or ran for a constable orJP position and are picking up another pension pkg. with a salary that goes straight to the bank or into rental property to provide more passive income. One friend is still with the fire department with almost 30 years in and as a Commander is drawing a very nice salary while only working 10 days a month due to all the paid leave and vacation time, personal days off etc...that has accrued over the years. He has been working that way for the last 3-4 years and says he will continue to do that for another few years. He and his wife have been building a portfolio of rental properties funded by early withdrawals from the pension fund, and with all his time off he can take care of upkeep and any needed maintenance issues himself during the other 20 days a month that he is getting paid for. The younger officers see that happening more and more and their promised benfits packages being restructured and reduced to avoid the collapse of the pension fund just like it has happened in Houston and other large cities, and they start leaving and taking what they have out and going to outlying affluent suburbs with plenty of tax money coming in from fast growing high end real estate subdivisions with much less crime and problems.

[Deltaboy]

I just an old hard head on this stuff, If the city made the deal and the people did the jobs for the time required the City should pay up even if the Mayor and council members have to work for Free!

[talltex]

I just an old hard head on this stuff, If the city made the deal and the people did the jobs for the time required the City should pay up even if the Mayor and council members have to work for Free!

The City Employees Pension fund is a totally separate entity from the Police and Fire pension fund, and was controlled by a different Board of Trustees that made the choices of how and where to invest their money. At that time the board consisted of 4 rank and file members of the police and fire departments and 3 city council members and ,some labor consultant/advisers. They made huge investments in 17,000 acres of raw land in Idaho and also in Colorado with the plan to build subdivisions there that didn''t happen. They invested in South African lumber, Taxis, Asian infratucture projects, Nut farms, etc.. They set up the DROP fund years ago (deferred retirement option plan) which allowed the members to put their pension fund payments into that account at a guaranteed return of 8% with access to the money at any time. When the fund started to have problems and began talking about restructuring the policies, there was a run on the DROP funds as officers rushed to pull their money out before the new rules limiting withdrawals went into effect. I think there was over $600 million pulled out by members at that time, leaving a huge shortfall in available investment funds going forward. Mayor Mike Rawlins removed those existing Board members and the plan developed by the Mayor and the State has two rank and file members but the rest of the board was appointed and each appointee must have extensive experience in finance, investments, banking, asset and risk management. The City of Dallas and the State of Texas had to step in and inject money into the Police-Fire fund to keep it from being insolvent in the future. So actually, the City didn't make the deal or deals...the members themselves did thru the people they elected to represent their interests.

[Alf]

I just an old hard head on this stuff, If the city made the deal and the people did the jobs for the time required the City should pay up even if the Mayor and council members have to work for Free!

The cops who worked 20 years ago had contributions made to their pension fund 20 years ago and funded by the taxpayers 20 years ago.

Taking money from people in the present day, for services not provided in the present day, is theft. Wait, I misspoke. They carry guns so it's robbery. We The People have the right and duty to protect our lives and property form robbers.

[SA-TX]

The problem with all urban areas of Texas is the same one we see all over the country right now. Secular progressives are in charge and they are pursuing the failed policies of Chicago, D.C, and everywhere else that goes bust., etc. They got a later start here since reasonable people controlled these areas until 10 or 15 years ago but the destination they have in mind is a familiar one.

NYC is a fantastic example. Rudy cleaned it up from the heap it was in the 70s. Ungovernable they said. Even New Yorkers liked it so much he was re-elected and then Bloomberg followed on, albeit with a little less fervor. Then they reverted to the norm and elected De Blasio. In true form, "broken window theory"/quality of life enforcement was slashed. Don't hold people accountable. Don't prosecute "petty" crime. Does this sound familiar Dallas D.A. Cruzeot? The city has declined remarkably in a relatively short time. Venezuela proves the point more extremely from very wealthy 25 years ago to literally starving due to socialism and dictatorship.

Liberal writers are asking "what happened to the local control Texans used to believe in?" The answer is that self-government is only successful when there is a foundation of personal responsibility, self-control, and respect for liberty/property. Local governments didn't used to presume to tell businesses if they could use plastic bags , or allow smoking, or what benefits to offer employees. In short, they started infringing on liberty/property rights. If they continue down the road of not enforcing laws, that, too, will provoke a backlash.

Back to police, fire, and essential services. How many more police could we field if we did away with less important/unnecessary city hall bureaucrats? Diversity officers come to mind. How many more teachers could we put in classrooms if we did away with frills and focused on core academics? We don't have our priorities in order.

As for pensions, I see merit on both sides. The officer or firefighter had little to do with the poor investing decisions and the increase in benefits now funded by bogus assumptions about the future. However, their unions, representing them and with leaders elected by them, were directly involved in the dubious expansions and retirees are collecting on them. They have to take some responsibility for this especially considering if the pension goes broke, they all lose 100% rather than a modest reduction. They should also remember that they are fortunate to have a pension at all as the vast majority of workers do not.

I believe that most Texans understand that public safety jobs are difficult and don't pay well given the risk. I think they are support the men and women doing them. The problem is that government is so wasteful, so stupid, so destructive, so wrongheaded in its priorities in other areas that they lumped in. Had their unions been watchdogs against waste elsewhere, there would have been more resources for them.

SA-TX

[Bitter Clinger]

This has got to be more than underfunding. I'm sure Dallas could do more to recruit/train/develop the police force, but you don't get this bad just from short funding. I suspect poor management from middle to upper. The leadership (Mayor, Chief, City Manager, etc) set the tone. I wonder how many desk flying sergeants, admin officers, paper pushers, and bureaucrats are sitting around. Get everyone out on the street, turn in the tanks and rocket launchers and other toys and fix the squad cars, radios, mobile terminals, and even bikes. Get new head of dispatch.... OK I'm no expert on police administration, but I'll bet a city as big as Dallas could find someone who is. Instead they get a "Failed State" Chief from Mogadishu (sorry Detroit).

One rumor rampant in Dallas right now is that the reason Dallas is not upping the pay of policemen to fill the shortage of 500+ policemen that are needed is because the new Chief of Police was promised a sizeable bonus if she did not increase the current Police department budget. No way to verify this unfortunately.

The mayoral run-off race in Dallas is starting to heat up in regard to the policing issue. Scott Griggs wants to increase the number of police on the force and street immediately. DemocRat Eric Johnson wants to "wait till we build up South Dallas to pay for them". Griggs says there is money if we cut out all the slush funds like the patently corrupt "VisitDallas". Money that goes to South Dallas seems to end up in pockets that don’t need it, then indictments, etc. Time to focus on basics for the tax-paying citizens.

“When it comes to making Dallas a safer place, Scott Griggs is, by far, the superior candidate,” Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata said in a prepared statement.As the police department has shrunk in recent years — the association has blamed low morale, low pay and concerns about their troubled pension system — Griggs has been a consistent critic at City Hall about police staffing concerns. In particular, he has raised questions about how the shortage of officers has contributed to the department’s slow response time on high-priority calls.

If you live in Dallas and don't vote, then don't complain when it turns into San Francisco or Detroit.

[Redneck_Buddha]

My wife keeps saying she wants to move in to Dallas from the 'burbs. I keep saying no.

[bblhd672]

If you live in Dallas and don't vote, then don't complain when it turns into San Francisco or Detroit.

Sadly, a great number of Dallas (fill in your city name) citizens vote for a "D" candidate rather than facts, logic and a documented history of failure by the "D" party.