Following the murders of five officers in Dallas, the media and public alike lamented that the attack had ironically been perpetrated against ‘one of the most progressive police departments in the nation,’ thanks to Chief David Brown at the helm — but a current Dallas officer has now come forward with allegations much to the contrary.
Officer Nick Novello serves in the Dallas Police Department, and has for 34 years, but the leadership of Chief Brown, the officer says, has been anything but the rosy portrait of unity he paints in public.
In fact, even before the fatal shootings earlier this month, bitterness and animosity over Brown’s leadership decisions have marred morale in the department. Novello accuses Brown of making sweeping choices concerning schedules and more without consulting anyone — and, as a consequence, officers are overworked and underpaid.
But a rather striking accusation tears apart Brown’s supposed outreach to the black community: Novello says distrust of the department by African-Americans has been fueled by a number of wrongful arrests to fill drug and public intoxication quotas.
Brown extended an invitation to black protesters angered over police shootings, saying, “We’re hiring. We’ll give you an application. We’ll help you resolve some of the problems you’re protesting about.
“And we’ll put you in your neighborhood …”
But, as Novello noted in an interview with the Daily Mail, “If he wants them to sign up, he had better stop criminalizing them for things like having small amounts of marijuana.
“Some officers fit people up by arresting them for being intoxicated when they refuse to show their IDs and that leads to a criminal record and difficulties finding a job
“Officers are under pressure to reach targets. There has to be an end to the arrest and ticket quota that exists within the Dallas Police Department.”
He added sharply, “I am sick and tired of the public face of togetherness the chief puts on when he knows there’s a lot of bad feeling behind the scenes.”
Policing for revenue, Novello explained, has rendered the department ineffectual in dealing with issues of greater importance — worse, he feels filling quotas contributes to predatory policing by emboldening officers with power over the people they should be protecting.
“There is a lot of anger out there that we have an inability to police ourselves and we will protect a rogue cop as a police department,” Novello said.
“A lot of the black community are supportive of the police, and that is wonderful, but a large number say police can’t police themselves,” Novello continued. “Not only can’t we police ourselves, we go out of our way to protect the predator cop.
“In my estimation, the quota system is corrupt. You are telling the officer who has a great deal of power that he is required to exercise that and generate funds for the city. Arrests generate money.
“As a beat cop, I see the computer, I see the calls holding, I see the inability to dispatch and deal with real-time needs.”
Read more- Source: The Free Thought Project