Dallas police present annual update: fully staffed, traffic-stop data, behavioral-health calls and fleet needs

Deputy Chief Jerry Mott presented the Dallas Police Department annual update to the Dallas City Council on April 7, 2025, reporting the department was “fully staffed with all authorized positions for right now” and reviewing enforcement, staffing, fleet and behavioral-health trends.

Mott told council members the department has 23 sworn officers and four civilian staff on the roster; some officers are out on medical leave but the department is fully staffed against its authorized positions. He said the department has restored a traffic safety officer and a rotational detective position and has begun a cadet program aimed at long-term recruitment.

The briefing included traffic-enforcement and stop-data figures. Mott said the department is tracking roughly 1,889 “traffic enforcement events” in its internal reports (a broader category that includes traffic assists) and estimated roughly 1,800 pure traffic stops as a “pure number.” He told councilors the state Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) stop-data system recorded 1,220 stops in the dataset used for external reporting and provided a racial breakdown from that record. Mott noted limits in the state system — including that Oregon driving records do not list race — and gave council an adjusted estimate intended to align the state-reported sample to the department’s internal counts.

Mott said the CJC’s audit history shows Dallas has not been identified as evidencing disparate treatment in CJC categories since the program began. “We’re not identified by CJC as an agency evidencing, disparate treatment in any category against any group of persons,” he said.

Councilors pressed for more granular officer-level data and for clarification on how the CJC numbers relate to department records. Mott acknowledged the statistical limitations of small sample sizes when data are broken down by individual officers and the state system’s occasional data drops. Officer Martin confirmed the department is required by state reporting to submit stop data annually.

Mott also described workload pressures from behavioral-health calls and homelessness-related service calls, which he said are time-consuming and reduce officer availability for proactive work. He noted statewide improvements are coming, including a county crisis team now operating 24/7 and the state’s crisis hotline system, but he cautioned many calls still feed back to 911.

On equipment and facilities, Mott described wear in the fleet and noted the department budgets to replace about one vehicle a year. He cited one example vehicle with about 85,707 miles that will “run to death” and eventually require an engine replacement. The department plans to leverage body-worn-camera footage and the CAD system to reduce officers’ report-writing time and free officer hours for proactive patrol.

Mott said the department currently lacks in-house forensic analysis capacity for digital devices and has relied on contracted vendors and mutual-aid requests to the Oregon State Police and other agencies; he said the contracted options that had been used are no longer available and that the department has had to request help from partner agencies.

The presentation closed with near-term outlook items: the department’s state accreditation award (achieved Sept. 24), the cadet program and staffing changes, an ongoing effort toward a new police station connected to a future ballot measure, and a goal to free officer time for more self-initiated traffic enforcement.

The council and staff discussed retention tactics, the statutory repayment rule for training costs within three years, and the limits on local authority over some underlying causes of service demand. No formal council vote or ordinance on police operations occurred during the work session; staff and councilors agreed to continue follow-up.