Why Can’t Bad Cops Be Fired?

City Manager Mary Suhm says I was too quick on the trigger to suggest that the City Council hold “her feet to the fire” on the case of Rotten Apple Fernando Perez. She’s right. Here’s the Dallas City Charter. I direct your attention to Chapter 16, which establishes the Civil Service Board, the trial board, and administrative judges. As you will note, the board is appointed by the City Council, so it is responsible if the board and its trial board and administrative judges are keeping bad cops on the streets and bad employees at City Hall. By the way, labor attorney Ron Chapman, Jr is the chairman of the Civil Service Board. Chapman is a 2007 D Magazine “Best Lawyer in Dallas.” Ron, we need to have a talk. Perhaps you can explain why you should keep that job.