Increased violence leads to higher visibility for Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall

A spate of violent crimes has led to the highest visibility yet of Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall’s brief tenure.

Her face time in front of the media hasn’t been without its stumbles, as she’s worked to show a police force that takes violent crime seriously while significantly understaffed.

She held a news conference on Monday about weekend violence, including the murder of another black transgender woman, Chynal Lindsey, and the shooting death of a person at a Fair Park-area car wash. It was during that press conference she spoke about some of the systemic problems that fuels crime in big cities and earned the ire of some police officers and citizens.

“There are individuals in this city who have returned from prison who cannot find a job, who are not educated. In those instances, those individuals are forced to commit violent acts,” Hall said.

Hall was forced to clarify her words on Tuesday and did so in a prepared statement.

“In no way am I using that as an excuse to commit a crime,” Hall said. “However we have to work together as a community to remain vigilant and proactive.”

Later that same day, she took on the role of consoler in chief and outraged citizen when an innocent 13-year-old boy was killed while walking home from a convenience store in Pleasant Grove. He got caught in the crossfire between two gunmen.

“We’re very, very angry about the level of violence that were seeing in this city. We have lost one of our youth to violence that is not necessary in our city,” Hall said in a late night press conference shown live during FOX4 News at 10. “We’re angry, were saddened, we’ve lost a life over senseless violence. We grieve with the family. We’re going to be aggressive and adamant we will find the individuals.”

An arrest was made in the case and announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Dallas hit 40 murders in May, the most in a month in the city since the 1990s. As the violence continues into June, Hall’s visibility seems only to increase even more.