Like the year 1988, probably the worst in DPD history as far
as deaths of DPD officers, 1971 and 1972 may be arguably runners up in the worst
years in the history of the Dallas Police Department.
On May 3, 1972 the
Dallas Morning News had an article pointing out the DPD’s rank and files bitterness
and frustration over the recent and seemingly endless slayings and assaults on
DPD officers. Officer Carl J. Cooke was the third rookie shot to death in the
line of duty since the fall of 1971.
This writer remembers sitting in my 1965 Mustang at the
intersection of Bruton and Buckner about this time. I was a stupid 10th
grader at W.W.Samuell H.S. but I was apparently somewhat aware of the killings.
A Dallas squad car pulled up next to me and a buddy. I commented that the new standup
shotgun rack (that didn’t last very long with DPD) in the squad car was a
result of these killings and that the DPD wanted potential bad guys to know
that officers had such a weapon readily available. Maybe I was right.
The deaths of Cooke (“a monument to the 1-man squad,”
according to one officer), and Officers Allen Camp and Johnnie Hartwell had
raised questions about the departments policies on training and the use of
firearms.
There was angry talk among the nervous and frustrated ranks that
indicated police may be prepared to shoot first and ask questions later. Some
said that the 1-man squad car was the reason for the violence, others said that
it was the accelerated training that DPD officers were subjected to. The DMN
wrote that At one time rookies were assigned a trainer for six months after
completing the academy. Then the rookie might work with a veteran officer for
three years or more. Now, the article said, the rookie worked only three months
with a trainer, then put out on the streets, often in 1-man squads.
Some officers were critical of the department which in June,
1970 handed down a departmental “policy statement” that police would stop
shooting “suspected” criminals. This was a result of a DPD detective assigned
to the Metro Squad. He had shot a known police character who reached under the
seat of his truck and grabbed a wrench after being confronted by police. The
officer thought it was a gun and shot the guy. The grand jury investigated
along with the DPD and suspended the officer for 30 days and removed him as a
detective in the Metro Squad.
After Cooke’s death, the DPD issued a statement that “the
department never tried to restrict any officer in firing when they were in fear
of their lives.”
One anonymous but described as a veteran officer told the
DMN that “I would rather be sitting in front of that grand jury telling those
12 ‘tried and true’ people how and why I killed a burglar than to have the
burglar there telling them how he killed me.”
The next day May 4, 1972 the DMN reported that
DPD Chief Frank Dyson, who had three weeks earlier said he would seek
legislation in Austin to curb an outbreak of violence against police officers,
went one step further by creating a task force to spot any training and
operational weaknesses that also might be a factor.
Dyson said that while the study is in progress, directives
were being issued to commanders clarifying departmental use on firearms. “It is
not a shoot first and ask questions later policy,” said Dyson, “but rather a
clarification of the policy that men are not are not to subject themselves to
unnecessary risk.”
Dyson also said that he was passing the word to district commanders
that police answering burglar-in-the- building and robbery calls are “to hit
the ground carrying a shotgun.” He also stated that the task force would be
staffed exclusively by police officers assigned to “stress duty,” who would be in
the best position to identify problems. A patrolman would be assigned to head
up the group.
On May 7, 1972 it was reported that police shot and wounded
a burglar at the Amco Cycle Shop, 5347 Forest Lane about 3:35 am after the
burglar alarm went off. Officer J.L. Elliot and R.A. Husson answered the call
and Husson spotted the suspect running through a fenced storage area and yelled
for him to stop. When he started climbing the fence Elliot fired a shotgun
blast, hitting the suspect in the hand and face. The suspect however was not seriously
injured and later went to Parkland Hospital. Police found keys to six
motorcycles on the lot in the suspect’s pockets. It’s not known whether the 19
year old Irving resident continued a life of crime after this incident, but I
would think possibly not.
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