Mothers Against Police Brutality requests U.S. DoJ investigation into DPD

Organization cites 50 years of “unaccountable police brutality’’ 

Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB) has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice seeking an  investigation of the Dallas Police Department’s disproportionate violence against people of color and its handling  of brutality cases. 

The 19-page complaint details how Black citizens are more likely to be shot or killed by Dallas officers; how  Dallas officers use deadly force on people who do not pose an imminent threat; how only a fraction of officers  facing complaints of excessive force over the last half century have ever been disciplined; how citizens face  needless barriers when attempting to file police misconduct complaints; and how the police department’s internal  investigations fail to conform with federal standards. The complaint includes almost 30,000 internal Dallas police  records going back more than five decades.  

MAPB’s findings are comparable to those of DOJ investigators in other troubled police departments across the U.S., including in Chicago, Los Angeles, Ferguson, Minneapolis, and Phoenix. 

MAPB, a national organization based in Dallas, was founded by Collette Flanagan after a Dallas officer shot to death her unarmed son, Clinton Allen, in 2013.

“Clinton was shot seven times,” said Ms. Flanagan. “Five times in  the chest, once in his upper left arm, and once at close range in the back. What we have documented in this  request to the DOJ is the untold human cost of this department’s brutality over many years.” 

Ellwanger Henderson is a law firm based in Austin and Dallas with a deep legacy of civil rights work through the  Ellwanger family, which worked with leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Partner David Henderson is an  expert on issues of inequity and failed justice systems, frequently appearing in national and local media.  

John Fullinwider, a longtime Dallas activist and co-founder of MAPB, said the complaint is long overdue. “Dallas  police chiefs have always used the rhetoric of reform after violence by officers, beginning with the killing of  Michael Morehead in 1970. But the reality of unaccountable police brutality is embedded deep in the city’s police  culture. Police chiefs come and go, but the history and culture of the department remain.” 

Miles Moffeit, a veteran investigative journalist who works for the Peter Johnson Institute for Non-Violence in  Dallas, said the public records turned over to the justice department make up a “rare and massive trove of  evidence showing a broken accountability system.”  

MAPB is seeking a probe commonly known as a “pattern or practice” investigation that broadly examines Dallas  police practices. Such investigations generally lead to federal oversight. 

“We have described in this complaint a culture of impunity when it comes to police violence while documenting  highly racialized uses of force,” said Mr. Henderson. “This system must be reformed.”