Funding approved for Dallas mayor's task force recommendations for safer communities

DALLAS - Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson praised the city council's approval of money toward recommendations by his task force on safe communities.

The recommendations were made more than a year ago, but the city's recently approved budget puts money toward them.

The city will be funding strategies that have worked in other cities. They range from hiring and training respected community members to be what's called violence interrupters to adding lights in high crime areas.

Against a backdrop of seven young lives lost to gun violence in Dallas, Mayor Johnson pledged the city would do better.

“Our primary responsibility is to keep people safe,” he said.

The city and Dallas ISD are funding four initiatives the mayor's safe communities task force recommended last year.

“We are telling people in this community their lives matter,” the mayor said.

For DISD Trustee Pastor Maxie Johnson, stopping the violence is deeply personal.

“I know firsthand the devastation this plague brings, having lost my son to senseless gun violence,” she said.

Maxie’s son, Christopher, was killed last year in a robbery.

“I think they tried to rob him for 100 bucks. I would have gave all or more than that to have my son here,” she said.

Maxie believes the initiative that will have the biggest impact is the one that will fund school counselors.

“Social emotional learning is designed to teach our students to stop and think before they act in potentially dangerous situations to save lives,” she said.

Other initiatives will increase street lighting end reduce blight, like abandoned buildings.

“These initiatives will work,” said Derrick Battie, a task force member. “They’re proven in other cities and supported by criminologists all over this country.”

But while the city is investing $4.5 million toward the task force recommendations, another public safety issue is surfacing again: a large shortage of 911 call takers.

“It is not ok to call 911 and wait on hold. We should measure in seconds not minutes,” the mayor said. “People are hanging up and driving themselves to get medical attention. That is not okay. It keeps coming up. We need to solve once and for all.”

For now, that means paying overtime to have police officers answer 911 calls.

The city council, over the mayor's objections, cut the department's overtime budget.

Johnson says this is an example of why he fought against that.

“If we can’t take 911 calls, have we figured out what we are supposed to do as a city?” he said.

A memo released this weekend says the city has only 69 call takers, with a shortage of 30. Only 60 percent of 911 calls were answered within the city's goal of ten seconds last month.