Dallas police tighten off-duty job policies after impostor infiltrates scheduling platform
DALLAS - Changes are being put into place after a police impostor managed to infiltrate the platform that allows Dallas police officers to sign up for off-duty jobs.
Dallas’ Community Police Oversight Board reviewed the changes at this week’s meeting.
The backstory:
The Dallas impostor exposed a huge security hole in the RollKall scheduling platform.
Earlier this year, Diamon Robinson, who went by the alias Mike King, was able to impersonate a police officer and get into RollKall.
Police said Robinson used fake law enforcement credentials and created a business account, posing as an officer hiring other officers.
Despite his own lengthy criminal history, Robinson managed to use his officer account to verify his business account on the platform.
He even managed to get hired as a security guard for Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett during her recent Senate bid.
In March, Dallas investigators confronted Robinson with a warrant for impersonating a police officer. He allegedly pointed a gun at the officers, who shot and killed him.
Police impersonator killed in DPD standoff connected to further impersonation
A North Texas company that connects police to off-duty jobs says it thwarted a now-high-profile impostor's attempts to join its system. The police impersonator, now known to have worked security for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, has been connected to another attempt to access police systems.
What's new:
On Tuesday night, the Community Police Oversight Board reviewed the department’s new policy with the RollKall system.
All off-duty job requests now require department approval. Job listings may only be posted by the department’s secondary employment team, or those trained and authorized by the team.
"Before we would vet a specific location. So, if a business wanted to hire officers for a specific occasion, we'd check the business, make sure it meets certain requirements at that location. Now we check the job itself. Not only just the location, but also the event. Like the event itself, what you're asking officers to do and all those things. So yes, each individual job is now scrutinized much closer than it used to be," said Dallas Police Lt. Jonathan Blanchard.
What we don't know:
It’s still not clear how Robinson and his company made it through the U.S. House vetting process, which gave him close access to Congresswoman Crockett.
He reportedly tried to gain access to Illuno, another off-duty police recruitment service but failed to pass the identity verification system used by that platform.
The Source: The information in this article comes from a Dallas Police Department presentation to the Community Police Oversight Board and reporting from FOX 4's Lori Brown.