Dallas' 1st Black Police Chief Fired

[CrimsonTide4]

Dallas Police Chief Fired After 4 Years
Tue Aug 26,10:18 PM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer

DALLAS - Police Chief Terrell Bolton was fired Tuesday, ending a four-year tenure marked by the nation's worst big-city crime rate and a scandal over fake drugs allegedly planted on suspects.



City Manager Ted Benavides said he fired Bolton, effective immediately, because "after four years I just thought it was time to go in a new direction." He said there was no one cause, but "an accumulation of issues."


Bolton's attorney, Bob Hinton, described the firing as a personality conflict between Bolton and Mayor Laura Miller, adding he didn't think Bolton would have been let go "if the chief had not been African-American." He would not elaborate.


Bolton said he didn't know why he had been let go, adding, "I think I've given Dallas everything that I could give Dallas within the resources that I had."


Miller, who is white, said the firing was Benavides' decision, not hers, but she supported it and was not happy with Bolton's performance.


Bolton, 45, has been with the department for 23 years and became the city's first black chief when he was promoted in 1999. Assistant Chief Randy Hampton was named interim chief while a search for a permanent replacement is conducted.


A recent federal crime report showed Dallas would have the highest crime rate among the nation's largest cities for the sixth year in a row if projections held true through the end of the year.


Bolton maintained that the city's crime rate had fallen significantly in the last decade, despite an apparent spike in crime for the first half of the year.


The department has been embroiled in a scandal in which ground gypsum — a white powder that looks like cocaine — was allegedly planted on innocent people, mostly Mexican immigrants, to obtain convictions.


Drug charges against more than 80 victims were dismissed by the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.


Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz was fired in April after being charged with deprivation of rights under color of law and making false statements to federal officials. Another officer whose investigations came under suspicion, Eddie Herrera, is on leave.


Bolton's leadership was questioned again when the department's internal affairs division announced this month that it would review hiring practices.


Officer Derrick C. Evans was fired by Bolton after public records showed that he twice had been the target of emergency protective orders in Alaska after judges ruled he had assaulted his wife.


The Dallas Morning News reported that Evans also had failed a departmental polygraph test about his involvement in a homicide and wounded a teenager during an off-duty confrontation.