Mayor Eric Johnson's remarks during Community Police Oversight Board meeting
DALLAS — Mayor Eric Johnson on Tuesday addressed the Community Police Oversight Board during its first meeting since the COVID-19 outbreak began.
Below are his remarks:
First, I want to say that I am grateful that these meetings have resumed. The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions for our government and to the daily lives of our residents. But our community needs a space like this, especially now. We have always needed to have difficult discussions, but now, your work is even more important.
You are exercising one of the most critical functions of any governmental body, and that’s oversight. The word is in your board’s name, and it’s your mission.
Oversight ensures good governance, but it can make some people uncomfortable. And oversight of police, as we know, is no easy task. Dallas has made improvements over the years, and I believe we have worked harder than many other cities to improve community-police relations and to hold officers accountable.
But we cannot be content with the work that we have already done. Now is the time to talk about change and to listen, and now is the time to seek answers.
The death of George Floyd was horrific and unacceptable, and anyone with a heart and a conscience who saw that video would believe the same.
We’ve had too many names across this country turned into hashtags and thrust into a movement -- too many lives lost to injustice and brutality.
The movement, at the scale we have seen in our streets, is long overdue. I am seeing people who don’t look like me at these protests in numbers I have never seen before.
At the City Council level, we are beginning to look at changes that the police department is pursuing administratively and to reconsider our budgeting priorities. I have committed to the Barack Obama Mayors Pledge to improve policing in this city. And I am going to push for us to look at proposals such as my Task Force on Safe Communities recommendations that take a more holistic look at crime.
I am looking for your support and input during this process. Your service now is critically important to our city’s future. We have entrusted you all with a great responsibility, and I am confident that you’ll exercise it to your full abilities.
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