PUBLIC SAFETY CRISIS, DALLAS, TEXAS

April 5, 2017

Dear Sirs:
We, the undersigned, are retired Dallas police executives having served as either Police Chief, Assistant
Chief or Deputy Chief. We have extensive experience managing the complex organization of the Dallas
Police Department and, in some cases, other departments around the country. We have all also been
officers on the street in Dallas. Collectively, we represent 900 plus years of law enforcement service. We
share tremendous respect for both the men and women who have been Dallas officers in the past and
those who serve today. We also share a desire to see that the citizens of Dallas continue to receive the
finest in law enforcement service. The professional stature of the department and safety of the citizens
have been earned through great sacrifice. For these reasons we are compelled to comment on a looming
law enforcement crisis in Dallas fueled by a police and fire pension system in financial crisis.
Too much of the recent debate has focused on assigning blame of pointing fingers. This letter seeks to
focus more on consequences of ill-conceived proposed solutions. Consequences include an inevitable rise
in serious crime as Dallas loses officers and is unable to replace them. It has already begun. As of this
writing the department currently has 400 vacancies. Weve seen the correlation before: After years of
being understaffed and facing a huge tide of serious crimes that made Dallas one of the more dangerous
large cities in the country, the citizens and city government launched an effort to raise the number of
officers to 3 per 1000 citizens. That commitment was a major factor in leading to a twelve year decrease
in major crime and made Dallas one of the safest cities in the country. It is not hyperbole to say that
hundreds of lives were saved by those efforts. Sadly, with the rhetoric surrounding the pension crisis, we
are seeing a mounting increase in officer vacancies and sharp increases in serious crime.
Dallas officers pay is considerably lower than that of many surrounding cities. The job they face is more
dangerous than in those same cities. Historically, Dallas officers have faced those challenges and
hardships because they thought that they had a rock solid pension that was backed by the City of Dallas.
Having those trusts and beliefs shattered by the crisis and by demeaning statements of officials has
resulted in many officers seeking employment elsewhere. We believe that trend will accelerate in the
near future.
The cost of recruiting and training one officer to the point that he or she can contribute to the
departments mission is at least $250,000. These processes takes eighteen months to two years from the
date the recruit starts the police academy. This all assumes that adequate numbers of qualified
applicants are available. If the pension issue is not resolved in a manner that demonstrates that the city
values and will protect the livelihood of its officers and retirees, those qualified applicants will go to other
police departments.
The result will be a steady increase in serious crime. Many of us worked in this city when 350 murders
per year was common. One year we topped 500 homicides. By 2014 that number had been reduced to
116. We do not want to see that horrible loss of life return.
There have been many omissions and incorrect statements made about the cause of the problems with the
pension fund. We must address a few.
 Dallas officers must join the pension when they begin employment. There is no option.
Officers employment is not eligible for Social Security. Neither the officer nor the city
contribute to nor do retirees draw Social Security based on police employment.
DROP was created in Dallas, as in many other cities, as a mechanism to retain experienced
officers. Officers were asked to remain on the department, yet forgo earning credit for additional
years of service (at 3 percent of their salary for each year) for computation of their pension. The
city retained experienced officers who were eligible to retire and did not incur recruiting, hiring
and training costs that would have been required to replace them had they left city employment.
This adds up to a great budget savings each year for the City of Dallas and avoids the drop in
efficiency that is inevitable in the cycle of replacing experienced officers. We are convinced
that this strategy contributed significantly to the decrease in crime that Dallas enjoyed.
DROP was vetted by actuaries for the pension system, the city and the state. There were three
City Council member positions on the pension board when DROP was created, a forth was soon
added. Other City Council members and city management officials were briefed. News media
reported on the entire process.
The Pension Board required that a review be conducted after five years of DROP to ensure that it
was cost neutral to the system. That review determined that it was positive to the system at that
point. Suggestions that the DROP program was unsustainable from the beginning, or that its
creation was behind closed doors by officers for self-serving reasons are false.
There seems to be little doubt that in subsequent years the decline in the economy, poor
investment strategies and careless actions by the Board, including infrequent attendance of City
Council members appointed to the Board, resulted in the decline that has brought us to this point.
It remains to be seen if any of those actions and inactions rise to the level of criminal conduct. If
so, this group supports vigorous prosecution of the individuals responsible.
The active members of the Pension System have already voted to reduce the interest paid on
DROP accounts to try to preserve the fund.
It is clear to us that the general membership of the plan are victims in this case and that some politicians
have tried to paint them as schemers in order to deliberately destroy the pension system and substitute a
defined contribution plan. They are demanding that if the plan is to be saved it be done by reducing
earned benefits, restating interest which has already been legally paid, seizing accounts of individuals
who have done no wrong and refusing to relinquish them except as a forced annuity. This direction has
been taken to preserve city money and bonding capacity for transformative projects. Quite obviously,
the City of Dallas has to balance all needs. So-called deferred maintenance on infrastructure has been
deferred too long and we understand that. But no city service is more basic or crucial than that provided
by police officers and firefighters. Every person with a voice or vote in this crisis should be mindful of
the sacrifices made by current and retired officers, their surviving spouses and orphans. The City of
Dallas should honor its commitments to those who have given so much.

AS OF MARCH 30, 2017, THE ATTACHED LIST OF FORMER COMMAND STAFF MEMBERS OF
THE DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT EITHER TOOK PART IN THE DRAFTING AND
CREATION OF THIS DOCUMENT AND/OR HAVE READ AND ARE IN COMPLETE
AGREEMENT WITH ITS CONTENTS:
DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT FORMER COMMAND STAFF:

Ben Click, Chief of Police

Billy Prince, Chief of Police
Daniel Garcia, Assistant Chief of Police and former Chief of Police, Phoenix, AZ.
Lowell Cannaday, Assistant Chief of Police and former Chief of Police, Irving, TX..
Lou Caudell, First Assistant Chief of Police and former Chief of Police, Little Rock, AR.
Marlin Price, Assistant Chief of Police and former Chief of Police, Southlake, TX.
Shirley Gray, Assistant Chief of Police
Tom Ward, Assistant Chief of Police
Roger Duncan, Deputy Chief of Police and former Sheriff Kendall County, TX.
Douglas Kowalski, Deputy Chief of Police and Chief of Police, Prosper, TX.
Mark Moeller, Lieutenant of Police and former Chief of Police, Rockwall, TX.
Grant Lappin, Deputy Chief of Police and former Chief of Police, Baylor Health Care Police Dept.
Ron Waldrop, Assistant Chief of Police
Randy Hampton, Assistant Chief of Police
Vincent Golbeck, Assistant Chief of Police
Robert Jackson, Assistant Chief of Police
John Holt, Assistant Chief of Police
Manny Vasquez, Assistant Chief of Police
Willie Taylor, Deputy Chief of Police
David Elliston, Deputy Chief of Police
Zackary Belton, Deputy Chief of Police
John Martinez, Deputy Chief of Police
Jill Muncy, Deputy Chief of Police
Julian Bernal, Deputy Chief of Police
Andrew Acord, Deputy Chief of Police
Craig Miller, Deputy Chief of Police
Gloria Perez, Deputy Chief of Police
Janice Easterling, Deputy Chief of Police
Sherryl Scott, Deputy Chief of Police
Nancy Kirkpatrick, Deputy Chief of Police
Tammy Ellzey, Deputy Chief of Police
Mona Neill, Deputy Chief of Police