Sen. Cornyn says police are asked to do too much after meeting with North Texas chiefs
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn met with North Texas’ three newest police chiefs on Friday in Dallas and he told them he wants to secure federal grants that will allow law enforcement to do less.
The senator spoke with Fort Worth Chief Neil Noakes, Dallas Chief Eddie Garcia and Arlington’s Al Jones. None of the police chiefs responded to a request for comment.
Too many times police are asked to be mental health crisis managers or social workers, Cornyn said. Through grants, police departments can get better, specialized training and hire social workers and mental health experts.
“They need to keep the bad guys at bay and protect the community,” Cornyn said of what an officer’s responsibility should be.
A lot of times, police aren’t dealing with hardened criminals. Those with mental health issues should be properly diagnosed and sent to the correct facilities, he said. Cornyn also said he is against taking funds from police and putting it into social services. He believes that’s what federal grants are for.
“I do think social services are useful, but I wouldn’t punish the police,” he said.
Cornyn also asked for each chief to give him recommendations in the future regarding qualified immunity. On Thursday, New Mexico became the third state to ban qualified immunity and gave people the right to sue government entities, including police, if they allege that their civil rights were violated.
The senator said qualified immunity is going to be a big topic and doesn’t want to take a stance before getting recommendations from the police chiefs.
In Fort Worth, last summer’s killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis spurred protests for weeks. Protest groups called for the defunding of the city’s Crime Control Prevention District and moving those funds to more social services.
The CCPD is a special fund that pays for enhanced police patrols, equipment and a portion of school officers’ salaries, among other things. The fund’s half-cent sales tax has been devoted to police since 1995, and has ballooned from $26.6 million to more than $85 million. The tax is set to provide Fort Worth police with an additional $1 billion through 2030.
Since Noakes took over in February, he fired four officers with two of them having posted offensive and racist materials on Facebook.
Noakes acknowledged those officers could get their job back through appeals, but he would still stand by the decision to fire them.
