City Hall Roundup: Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia Opposes Decriminalizing ‘Small Amounts’ of Marijuana

You’ve heard of bringing a knife to a gunfight, but Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia brought weed to a City Council meeting last week. 

The chief’s visual aid was to illustrate that 2 to 4 ounces of marijuana is a significant amount and not necessarily intended solely for personal use. About 71% of Dallas’ drug-related murders last year involved some amount of marijuana, Garcia said. 

A charter amendment to “decriminalize small amounts of marijuana” was one of several measures debated at the horseshoe on Wednesday. 

“Four ounces is not a small amount of marijuana and not only will it lead to increased traffic at drug houses in our most vulnerable neighborhoods, but in my 32 years of law enforcement, in my opinion, it could lead to increased illegal sales and deterioration of quality of life in certain areas of our city,” Garcia said. 

Here’s a look at the other charter amendments that voters could decide this fall. 

Charter Amendments

A 15-member Charter Review Commission met for eight months and reviewed 125 suggested amendments to the City Charter. Thirty changes were recommended, 13 of which were technical in nature and provided “cleanup language.” 

A charter review is required every 10 years. 

Manager of Governmental Affairs Jake Anderson briefed the City Council on Wednesday, reviewing the process to date and outlining the measures that a majority of council members want to include on a November ballot. Anderson also went over four proposals initiated by citizen petitions, including the one involving decriminalizing marijuana. 

Until Wednesday’s meeting, council members had not yet decided whether they wanted to include a salary increase for elected officials; they took that up Wednesday, amended it, and moved it forward through a “straw vote.”

The eight slides below reflect propositions as recommended by the Charter Review Commission.  

The charter amendment on salary increases originally called for a hike from $60,000 to $125,000 for council members and $80,000 to $140,000 for the mayor, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua proposed amended raises Wednesday to $90,000 and $110,000. 

The straw vote taken Wednesday to move the salary hike forward is not binding, and council members will take an official vote on what the final ballot will look like at their Aug. 14 meeting. 

Watch the Aug. 7 Dallas City Council briefing or review the slide presentation. 

Dallas HERO Initiative, Dallas Freedom Act Charter Amendments 

In addition to the council-initiated charter amendments, the Dallas HERO Initiative petitioned for three charter changes, none of which were well-received by the council.

Because petitioning residents met a required threshold of signatures and the proposals were certified by the City Secretary’s Office, council members don’t really have a say as to whether those measures appear on the November ballot.

WFAA covered the nonprofit agency’s amendments best, and here’s a link to Michael McCardel’s July 31 report. 

Much discussion at Wednesday’s meeting centered on Dallas HERO’s proposed hire of 1,000 additional police officers. Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the department doesn’t have the capacity to onboard and train that many people at once, and Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland said it would severely impact the budget to the tune of about $175 million. Councilman Chad West called it fiscally irresponsible. 

Dallas HERO also proposed that the city manager’s salary be performance-based, as in, he or she gets a raise if crime or homelessness is reduced, and if certain measures are not met, termination is imminent. Priorities would be measured by an anonymous citizens’ survey.

Council members — who are in the midst of a search for a permanent city manager — opined that there could be negative impacts in attracting qualified candidates if that measure passes. Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said it would be detrimental.

“I think it would be something that people like myself would think very seriously about before they would want to dedicate their professional time to the city manager position,” Tolbert said.

The third Dallas HERO proposal is to allow “citizen enforcement.” 

But what raised the most ire was the Dallas Freedom Act, a measure supported by West and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaluda but not by the city’s top cop. 

Decriminalizing Marijuana

The proposal from Ground Game Texas to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, deemed the Dallas Freedom Act, came about through a petition that garnered more than 50,000 signatures.

West said in a June Texas Tribune article that the voters want this option. 

“Our already burdened police should focus their attention on serious crime, not arresting people with small amounts of marijuana,” West said at the time.

Bazaldua pointed out that Garcia spearheaded an initiative three years ago to not arrest individuals in possession of small amounts of marijuana in order to allow officers to focus on more violent offenses. 

“During those three years … we’ve had the least amount of citations or arrests for personal possession, but those that weren’t cited weren’t attached to other criminal activity, just as you intended,” Bazaldua told the chief. 

If approved by voters, the Dallas Freedom Act directs police to stop writing tickets or making arrests for less than 4 ounces of marijuana. Possessing 2 to 4 ounces is a class A misdemeanor that can carry a one-year jail term. Holding under 2 ounces is a class B misdemeanor that can come with a 180-day sentence, the Texas Tribune reported in June.  

Stay tuned to CandysDirt.com as council members set the ballot at this week’s agenda meeting.