The following is an update of the current status of the review of our academy’s practices and procedures:

All staff and instructors were interviewed, over 66 individuals involved in training recruits at the police academy and 17 at the firearms training center.  Of the employees interviewed, only 7 had direct involvement in the training of Recruit Taylor.  Not a single employee stated that they were ever told to “remediate any recruit until they passed” with the exception of one non-sworn/civilian academy staff member who considered the 5th remedial test of Recruit Taylor to be “remediating until passing.”

This review revealed that the Police Vehicle Operations Course (PVOC) standard operating procedure did not clearly define “remedial training”, its requirements, restrictions, or limitations.  It also did not provide a time frame for conducting remedial training.  The Training Division chain of command is revising the PVOC standard operating procedures to address these findings.  The review revealed no discrepancies with the firearms training center’s standard operating procedures.

Absent any additional information that the Dallas Police Association can provide to support their allegations of “downgrading standards and remediating recruits until they pass”, we are concluding our administrative inquiry finding that our training standards continue to remain high and commensurate with the expectations of the public.

Addressing concerns brought by the Black Police Association, the sampling of recruits who have failed the PVOC is a statistically small number, but because it only involves one race, it is imperative for us to examine the circumstances to ensure that we are following policy and procedures in every case.

We continue to conduct a formal internal investigation into the allegations of inappropriate grade changing by an instructor at the academy as well as an internal investigation into allegations of improper grading on the Standardized Field Sobriety (SFST) practical skills test.

 To provide more oversight and a fresh perspective, Chief Brown has temporarily assigned Assistant Chief Tom Lawrence, permanently assigned Deputy Chief David Pughes and made permanent the assignment of Major Melissa McGee to the Training Division.

Asst. Chief Tom Lawrence and Deputy Chief David Pughes