08-04-2025
Dallas poised for new police chief amid community demands for reform
Those familiar with the search believe the City of Dallas could have a permanent police chief by the end of the week.
Community activists and police watchdog groups are using these final days to make it known who and what qualities they expect from whomever the
city manager chooses among five finalists
.
It's the neighborhoods of Dallas that have problems with both under-policing and over-policing that community leaders say too many Dallas police chiefs ignore despite promises to address.
Tamara Neal, who co-founded the Dallas Freedom Act, said she wants the next chief to have the courage to decriminalize marijuana possession offenses that her DPD study found more often target minorities than other races. She said of the five finalists for the job, DPD's Interim Chief Michael Igo has said the right thing.
"What I will say is that he definitely lifted up the fact that we need to stop arrests for certain small, low-level amounts of cannabis," said Neal.
Igo
is vying for the job permanently along with:
Each
participated in public and private meet and greets
over the last few weeks.
Cydney Walker has been advocating on her podcasts for changes to police calls for service by providing officers and civilian employees more information about red flags, such as prior mental health issues before responding. She likes what she heard from all of the finalists.
"Igo. The gentleman from Houston, the DEA agent. I was also impressed with Arrerdondo," said Walker. "But it seems like the council is sitting between Igo and the gentleman from Houston."
It's been more than five months since the
departure of the former Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia
. Whoever takes over will fill the shoes of one of the most popular police chiefs the department has ever had.
