Public speakers raise concerns about Dallas County building security and the county fire marshal's office

Public speakers at the Dallas County budget hearing criticized the county's Building Security Department and the role of the Fire Marshal's office in operating sworn peace officers.

Michelle Wigington, who identified herself during the hearing, said department web pages and the county budget do not clearly disclose organizational charts or chain-of-command details for building security and the Fire Marshal's office. "When you pull up the fire marshals page... there's no org chart on there," Wigington said, adding that she could not find posted timekeeping for certain officers and that some web links returned errors.

Michael Wiginton criticized what he described as the rapid growth of the department's budget and the use of sworn officers under the Fire Marshal. He told the court the department's budget had risen substantially since 2014 and alleged the department had seen attrition and misconduct in past years. "How about you stop putting every spare dime the county has into hiring your own private police force? The state passed a new law directly targeting this exact practice," Wiginton said during his remarks. He urged the court to consider that as a source of potential savings.

County officials on the dais did not take an immediate action to change building security funding at the meeting; the public speakers' comments were received as part of the budget hearing record. Commissioners and staff acknowledged the comments and indicated relevant materials and links would be checked for accuracy. No contracts or line-item changes specific to building security were adopted in response to the public speakers during this session.

The speakers requested more transparency in publicly posted materials (organizational charts, timekeeping records) and asked the court to consider whether the department's structure and expenditures were appropriate. The court did not reach a decision on those requests at this hearing and referred the matter to staff for follow-up.