DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Police Chief Eddie Garcia a new strategic plan on Monday for combating domestic violence in the city.
According to the City of Dallas, Mayor Johnson has made combating domestic violence a priority in Dallas after years of increases in the crime. Chief Garcia did not include a specific domestic violence component in his department’s violent crime reduction plan. The city said Monday that instead, the Chief opted to work on a separate framework to deal directly with the police response to this complex form of violence, which generally takes place behind closed doors.
Under the plan, which will be monitored by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, the Dallas Police Department will increase the number of domestic violence detectives, and reorganize the domestic violence unit to allow detectives to specialize in intimate partner violence. The plan also allows for Resume home visits — a previous policing strategy that had been discontinued — to check in on victims and alleged abusers. The department also intends to immediately pair an intimate-partner family violence detective with a homicide detective on murder cases with family violence ties.
“Domestic violence poses unique challenges for our police officers and detectives, and we will rely on the help of our community and our partner institutions as we work to address these difficult issues,” Chief Garcia said. “But the men and women of the Dallas Police Department do not tolerate any violence in our city, and we will strive to do all that we can to help the victims of these pernicious crimes. I am proud to take these major strategic steps toward creating a safer city, and I am grateful to Mayor Johnson and the City Council for their support in this effort.”
The plan’s release comes during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and follows year-over-year increases in domestic violence in Dallas. In 2020, felony domestic violence assaults increased by 13.6% in the city compared to 2019, which also saw an increase versus 2018. So far this year, those assaults have increased by less than 1% over 2020’s pace.
“Public safety comes first in Dallas,” Mayor Johnson said. “I am pleased that Chief Garcia and our police department have taken a thoughtful and holistic approach to tackling this problem. We must do everything that we can to reduce domestic violence in our city. We must take advantage of every opportunity we have to intervene in the escalating patterns of domestic violence. And we must work together to make every home in Dallas a safe home.”
Chief Garcia and police commanders will brief the Public Safety Committee on the plan at their meeting Tuesday, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
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