The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Dallas Police Department" ...
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Dallas Crime Stats
“Dallas had the highest reported crime rate among cities with more than 1 million people”. Many people were worried with distinction, so the police came up with a better system to record and report these statistics. Now that Dallas isn’t known to have the highest reported crime rate, it has come to attention that the rates being presented to the public are creating “an artificial image of crime in Dallas”.
Tags: law enforcement; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Police Department; Uniform Crime Reporting guidelines; officers; misclassified cases; Police Chief David Kunkle
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Dallas Police Department
These stories investigate the quality of officers being recruited by the police department. The reporters found that the police chief was allowing multiple chances for the recruits to complete training - something that is not common in large police departments. They also found that one of the officers was under investigation in a homicide, was fired and three years later was hired as a patrol officer.
Tags: Dallas Police Academy
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The Sheriff and his Vendor
These stories investigate a Dallas County sheriff and the Dallas County jail's commissary vendor. Investigations revealed that the sheriff repeatedly renewed the contract over the years with the same company and that the contracts were worth $20 million in revenue. In return the sheriff got his personal holidays funded by the vendor.
Tags: Jack Madera; Jim Bowles; FOI; Dallas County Police Department
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Dallas' Chief Problem; Ticket to Ride
The growing concern about the Dallas Police Department in early 2003 prompted reporters of the Dallas Observer to investigate the working of the department. Two prominent issues came up as part of this investigation : the first was working of the police chief and his chain of command and the second was to find out why the credibility of the department was questionable.
Tags: Dallas Police Department; Terrell Bolton; Police Department
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Fake drugs, Real Lives
WFAA-TV reports that nearly half of the cocaine seizures made by the Dallas police department in 2001 "contained little or no illegal drugs." According to the contest entry summary, "a key ingredient in nearly 20 alleged cocaine seizures -- totaling more than 680 pounds -- was gypsum, a main component of Sheetrock or billiard chalk." The investigation reveals that informants have admitted "to grinding up billiard chalk and planting it near unsuspecting individuals in order to receive police payments; the "fake drug" cases often ended up with the arrest of recent Mexican immigrants; and key witnesses, who also happened to be illegal immigrants, have been deported.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; crime; law enforcement; immigration; Texas Open records Law; Hispanics; Latinos
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Anatomy Of A Smear
The Dallas Observer reports on City Attorney Robin Page who was investigated by the police department for allegedly taking bribes from slumlords. No evidence of wrong-doing was ever found against her and Page says the department used media leaks to pin her as the scapegoat for the department's own failures. Despite her innocence, Page was demoted back to an entry-level job and plans to file a lawsuit against the city.
Tags: smear campaign; police corruption; slumlords
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Black, White and Blue
A Dallas Observer investigation explores the disciplinary practices at the Dallas Police Department in relation with an alleged racial bias. The story reveals "a stark contrast between the way badly behaved white and black officers were disciplined." The analysis of the police department's records shows that 38% of the allegations of misconduct involve black officers at the time when only 16% of the sworn officers at the department are African-American. The investigation also reveals that "white officers have better odds of getting the charges against them dropped" and "if allegation were sustained ... black officers faced a greater likelihood of getting punished more severely than their white counterparts." The reporter points to two examples - one involving a black officer who has been fired for allegedly sleeping while on duty and another involving a white officer who has only received a written reprimand for the same misconduct. The investigation details some questionable hiring practices at the police department. The story also reports on a continuing U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the alleged racial bias.
Tags: discrimination; race; African-American; Dallas Police Department; civil rights
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Good Cop, Bad Cop; Dirty Cops, Dirty Games
A Dallas Observer investigation "deals with disturbing allegations of widespread police corruption made by a former Dallas Police Department (DPD) officer." The author, a Dallas-based lawyer, details the corrupt story of the patrol officer Daniel Maples who has turned himself in to the police and has claimed being "part of a "ring" of dirty cops run by another officer, Quentis Roper Jr." To back up his claims, the officer has brought $ 49,000 in cash and has said it is 'his cut of what he, Roper and other cops" have stolen from arrested drug dealers. The two-part series examines Maples' allegations and shows that "for a variety of political, budgetary and personality-based reasons, the DPD was more interested in hushing this up than in fully investigating Maples' story."
Tags: corruption; theft; Dallas; FBI; U.S. Attorneys office; drugs; public integrity
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How the Slumlord Beats the City Every Time
The Dallas Observer investigated three distinct departments in Dallas city government -- police, code enforcement officials and city prosecutors -- "as they attempted to force one of the city's biggest landlords to improve its properties.... It showed that the busy machinery of ticket-writing and prosecution typically led to no results at all... brought to light inadequacies such as inexperienced prosecutors and untrained code enforcement officers... described how the city over decades ad failed to force improvements at the 500 or so aging rent houses the landlord owns in Dallas..."
Tags: local government police Jack Topletz Harold Topletz Dennis Topletz
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No title (id: 325)
Insight magazine article looks at Dallas's predominantly white police force, criticized for poor race relations with minorities; police were being killed by civilians while the department was being criticized for its war on crime, Aug. 29, 1988.
Tags: Mackenzie minorities TX