Dallas police report full authorized staffing, plan vehicle purchases and cautious traffic‑stop strategy

At the Oct. 27 Public Safety Committee meeting, the police representative (Speaker 9) reported one officer remains out with a work‑related injury but said the department has filled all authorized positions and introduced newly hired Lieutenant Steven McCartney, who started Oct. 24.

The department reviewed fleet needs and said it plans to pursue replacement vehicles this fiscal year. Officials identified a pursuit‑rated Ford F‑150 pickup as the preferred choice to tow the department’s command‑generator trailer (a fully fueled generator weighs about 12,500 pounds) and noted the Chevy option lacked the necessary tow rating and raised shop concerns about transmissions. Officials said the department may also replace an admin vehicle with a Ford Explorer but that some builds could roll into the next fiscal year depending on budget constraints.

Traffic‑safety statistics showed the department changed the report format to highlight trends; Speaker 9 said the department expects to finish north of 3,000 stops for the year (through September data) and aims for a long‑term range of 3,500–4,000 stops annually. The official emphasized caution: the department will use warnings for many minor offenses to reduce citation rates and "we don't want folks to feel like we're stopping everybody." The discussion included clarification on the period used for trend calculations (nine months through September) and monthly vs. daily averaging methods.

Questions from members covered vehicle budgeting (the department confirmed two vehicles are budgeted this year) and how stop counts were calculated. The representative said one of the planned purchases is to replace an older patrol vehicle and another is intended to upgrade towing capability.