Tim Dickey

06/15/06 My Two Cents Worth

Last Sunday?s front page headline:
?On Leave From Navy, Man is Fatally Shot in Parents? Driveway?.

Last Sunday?s Metro Page headline:

?Gunfire wounds 11 near downtown bar?.

The weekend before, four people stabbed outside a Greenville Avenue bar. All the Signature Bridges in the world can?t mask the stench of a city that?s out of control.

I grew up in Dallas, raised my children here and have been actively involved in my community for at least twenty years. If they call a Town Hall meeting, I?m there. I do my homework and speak my mind. I vote. I write letters to the Mayor and City Council. Year after year, almost nothing changes.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a very impressive meeting called by my State Representative, Rafael Anchia.

Representative Anchia had sponsored and got passed a bill that would allow the Dallas Police Department to regulate the massage parlors that have popped up all over my part of town, Northwest Dallas. That bill went into effect last September, but new spas are still cropping up.

The Representative was asking for an update on where we are on enforcement. The meeting was attended by four members of the City Attorney?s staff, two Deputy Chiefs of the Dallas Police Department, representatives of other city departments and several concerned citizens. About fifteen people in all.

When Representative Anchia asked the head of Vice and Narcotics why the DPD wasn?t checking to see that all massage therapists in the city are licensed, and trained, as required by the new law, he got the same answer I?ve heard for twenty years:

?We don?t have enough officers?.

Before I pack up my family and move out of town?because what other option is left??I would like to have one simple question answered.

How much money would it take to pay police a competitive salary, then hire the 400 new officers the Chief says he needs to properly police the City?

How much would my city taxes have to go up to make this happen?

Just give me a number so I can make a simple decision.

I asked Chief Kunkle this question at a meeting of the Bachman/Northwest Highway Community Association a little over a year ago. He didn?t know the answer. I asked whether he couldn?t find the number, then present it to the City Manager, who could present it to our elected City Council members, who could then present it to us, to let us search our collective souls to see if we think it?s worth it.

What?s so hard about that?

Dallas County says my house is worth $132,000. I pay the City of Dallas $783 in taxes. So what?s the number?

Would my taxes have to go to $1,000 to have all our cops well paid, and have a fully staffed police department for the first time ever? Would the number be $1,250?

Personally, I?d go for the $1,250?I would find it well worth the extra $500 a year to never have to listen to the ?we don?t have enough officers? explanation again.

My neighbors might disagree. I?d probably engage them in a friendly debate about it.

The newspaper and TV stations might run stories on the question??how much will the people of Dallas pay to hire the police we need??

There might be town hall meetings to discuss it.

There might even be a referendum.

But at least there would be some action, some motion?something other than this downward spiral, with a police department whose chilling response is, ?we don?t have the manpower to stop it.?

Tim Dickey