Root of the problem...we need more whistle blowers:
EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Dallas cop breaks ranks to slam 'public face of togetherness' and claim black community mistrusts police because they are WRONGLY arrested to help fill arrest 'quotas'
- Dallas police officer Nick Novello, 62, accused his police chief David Brown of failing the public
- The 34-year veteran with the force claims Brown is at the helm of a police team low on morale and over worked with insufficient pay
- He said the police chief was guilty of 'grandstanding' in his public appeal to hire more young black men to his force
- He claimed that the Dallas Police Department had been plunged into an all time low with many disillusioned officers serving the public
- He said much of the black community in Dallas distrusts the police force
- Novello said many had been wrongly arrested for small amounts of marijuana or public intoxication to help fulfill arrest 'quotas'
- He added that police chief Brown had defied calls from four police associations in Dallas to resign last spring
By
SHEKHAR BHATIA and
RYAN PARRY and
BEN ASHFORD and
RUTH STYLES IN DALLAS, TEXAS, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12:52 EST, 12 July 2016 | UPDATED: 13:39 EST, 12 July 2016
A veteran Dallas police officer has broken ranks and spoken out over what he claims is a department rife with bitterness and fear, following last week's slaying of five cops.
Officer Nick Novello, 62, who is a serving officer with 34 years on the beat in Dallas, accused his police chief David Brown of failing the public by being at the helm of a police team low on morale and over worked with insufficient pay.
He said the police chief was guilty of 'grandstanding' in his public appeal to hire more young black men to his force.
And he claimed that the Dallas Police Department had been plunged into an all time low with many disillusioned officers serving the public.
Dallas police officer Nick Novello, 62, accused his police chief David Brown of failing the public. The 34-year veteran with the force claims Brown is at the helm of a police team low on morale and over worked with insufficient pay
He claimed that the Dallas Police Department had been plunged into an all time low with many disillusioned officers serving the public. Novello also claimed that much of the black community in Dallas distrusts the police
Brown reached out to black protesters angered at the shootings of young black men by officers and who had demonstrated on his city's streets.
He said: 'We're hiring. We'll give you an application. We'll help you resolve some of the problems you're protesting about.
'And we'll put you in your neighborhood, and we will help you resolve some of the problems you're protesting about.'
But Novello said large numbers of the black community in Dallas distrusted the police and had been wrongly arrested to help fulfill an arrest 'quota' laid down on officers.
He said: 'If he wants them to sign up, he had better stop criminalizing them for things like having small amounts of marijuana.
'Some officers fit people up by arresting them for being intoxicated when they refuse to show their IDs and that leads to a criminal record and difficulties in finding a job.
'Officers are under pressure to reach targets. There has to be an end to the arrest and ticket quota that exists within the Dallas police department.
'I am sick and tired of the public face of togetherness the chief puts on when he knows there's a lot of bad feeling behind the scenes.'
Novello, who was on duty the morning after last Thursday's murderous attack by Micah Johnson on his colleagues, said police chief Brown had defied calls from four police associations in Dallas to resign last spring.
+7
Novello claims that Brown (pictured) was guilty of 'grandstanding' in his public appeal to hire more young black men to his force
'If we can't man the streets, the only viable solution would be that we embrace the assistance of the national guard or some federal agency to help us police the streets of Dallas.
'It would be very unpalatable because it would mean the loss of state city sovereignty.'
He claimed the public was being wrongly led to believe that a full police service was being offered up in Dallas.
He said: 'As a police officer I can look you in the eye and say "We have got your back, we are out there patrolling"… but no we are not.
'I can recall a number of days when I went to detail in the morning and there might have been seven of us there and after they have put officers on special assignment, there was one or two police officers for the whole district.
+7
Black veteran Micah Johnson opened fire at a peaceful protest on Thursday, killing five cops and injuring 12
'There is a lot of anger out there that we have an inability to police ourselves and we will protect a rogue cop as a police department.'
Chief Brown, however, says he is proud that homicides and other violent crimes have been reduced over recent years in Dallas and released a YouTube video asking for ideas from his officers to continue the 'great success' the department had achieved over the pas year.
He said community policing had helped defuse tensions between police and minorities and that last year marked the 12th consecutive year of crime reduction and the lowest murder rate in Dallas since 1930.
But his maverick officer said: 'He is grandstanding. He knows it is all about public perception.
'I don't want to besmirch the man and I have nothing personal against him. I harbor no anger at him.
'He says he wants to hug officers when he sees them. Well, I would hug him back I suppose.
'But I have no confidence in the man at all. He is very dictatorial. He is not open to questions. It is his show.'
The police chief has agreed that low starting salaries of his officers are a problem.
Salaries start at $44,659 for a police officer and go up to $96,170 for a lieutenant. The Dallas Police Department has more than 3500 sworn members and over 500 non-sworn members.
It polices 1.3million people in the city of 385 square miles and is actively seeking new recruits on its official website.
Novello said he joined the Dallas Police Department as a park and recreation officer.
In 2007, he made the transition to 'beat cop' patrolling East Dallas neighborhoods. He said he has no intention of climbing the ranks.
In the past Novello was spokesman for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, a group of current and former law enforcement members who say that existing drug policies have failed.
Daily Mail Online has reached out to Chief Brown's office for comment.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lice-WRONGLY-arrested-help-arrest-quotas.html