New police chief an overnight icon in Dallas, but she struggles to win cops' hearts and minds
The Detroit native has become a local celebrity three months into the job, but a recent reorganization dealt another blow to a department still reeling from a pension crisis and an attrition exodus that's stretched the force thin.
New Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall greeted the crowd as she walked the length of the Texas Freedom Parade on Sept. 17. (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)
By Naheed Rajwani and Tristan Hallman
9:00 AM on Dec 23, 2017 CST
Meeting a group of rank-and-file Dallas police for the first time, Chief U. Renee Hall teased an officer about his loyalties to her college's rival football team.
With a friendly wager on the next match, the chief put her troops at ease and left them jazzed about the future under their new boss.
The Detroit native has become a local celebrity three months into the job, her schedule packed with speeches and community events where she's welcomed with applause and requests for photos.
"I thought I was going to be the police chief, and I think I turned into some type of icon overnight," Hall said at a criminal justice symposium in September.
Hall's image in the community remains largely intact, but some of her decisions have proved unpopular within the Police Department.
Many of the officers she so quickly endeared herself to have grown disillusioned by a recent shakeup that put some less-experienced officers in command and demoted a handful of well-respected veterans, two of whom had been finalists for her job.
Hall has boasted of "small wins" to boost morale, but her critics expected more. And the reorganization was another blow for a department already on the ropes after a pension crisis and an attrition exodus that's stretched the force thin.
"This was not a job that you need to take a hammer to," said Lt. Thomas Glover, the president of the Black Police Association before he retired in August. "This was one you come in and you probably use the stick."
Glover added, "What she's done has tremendously affected the attitude of the rank-and-file officers that the citizens have to count on to fight crime."
Hall declined on Dec. 14 to comment for this story, saying she was headed home to Detroit for the holidays and wouldn't be free to talk until January, when she rolls out her strategic plan for the Police Department.
When The News checked in with the department again Wednesday, a spokesman said Hall had to leave town on "urgent family business" and would not be available to answer any questions.
Earlier this month, when asked how the transition was going, the chief said she was just as focused on the needs of her troops as those of the community.
"We're excited about making sure that we're serving our citizens," she said, "and every decision we make is geared around making sure the officers are taken care of and the community is taken care of."
Police officers and public officials had high hopes when Hall was named chief last summer.
David Brown's six years leading the department had been defined by reductions in crime and an emphasis on community policing. But morale eroded under Brown, whose popularity in the community contrasted with his sometimes testy relationship with the rank and file.
Police associations twice tried to get Brown ousted, but the chief's popularity soared thanks to his deft handling of the gunman's July 2016 ambush that left four Dallas police officers and a DART officer dead.
Brown's retirement last year — amid pension woes that prompted veteran officers to leave the force at a brisk pace — offered city officials a clean slate.
Seven finalists competed for the job, but it was Hall, a deputy chief from Detroit and the least experienced of them all, who wowed panelists in her interviews. One community member who attended a meet-and-greet of police chief finalists in the summer described Hall as personable and transparent.
"My favorite," the person wrote on a survey, obtained through an open-records request. "Extremely personable, had strategic planning. Familiar with community policing, good ideas for morale building. Most transparent and easy to talk to."
Hall continued to extol the virtues of transparency and community policing when she arrived in September to become the city's first female police chief.
"We're going to make some mistakes — I can guarantee it," Hall told The News in September. "And when we do, when we mess up, we fess up. We tell you what happened and what we're going to do about it."
She vowed there would be no secrets within the department, and she's known to give out her cellphone number to reporters and residents.
Despite the promise of transparency, the chief gave few details last month when she dismantled the department's vice unit, citing "serious issues," and moved its officers to other investigative units. Hall said she'd hire an outside group to evaluate the unit and suggest changes.
The move irked police association leaders, who said Hall had stigmatized the vice officers with little to no explanation or proof of wrongdoing. The officers were ultimately cleared by the Police Department's public integrity unit, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported.
But Hall's biggest, and most divisive, move came last month when she took a machete to the department's organizational chart and trimmed down her command staff.
Five chiefs were demoted to major: Deputy Chief Malik Aziz, who's been a finalist for chief in Dallas and other cities; Assistant Chief John Lawton, who rose quickly under Brown; Deputy Chief Jesse Reyes, who has served in the past as an acting assistant chief; Deputy Chief Catrina Shead, a popular patrol chief; and Assistant Chief Gary Tittle, who was the department's legislative liaison and another finalist over the summer for the chief job.
All five of the demoted chiefs declined to comment.
Hall said at a news conference about her decision that she was looking for 21st-century initiatives and strategic leadership skills in her command-level team. She said she relied on interviews with the candidates and an officer survey, which the department declined to release at the time.
"Each individual was given the same opportunity — the same fair opportunity — to compete for a position," Hall said.
But Hall's decisions, and the way she handled them, didn't sit well with some officers, including leaders in the new command staff, and retirees. The Dallas Police Association — often at odds with the command staff as a whole — blasted some of the demotions, saying they would "contribute to the plummeting morale" within the department.
It's unclear whose advice Hall has relied upon.
She's sought no input from at least two former chiefs still in the area, Bill Rathburn and David Kunkle. Brown, her immediate predecessor, didn't return calls for comment.
Rathburn said demoting two competitors for the chief job wasn't a good look for Hall.
"My initial reaction was her paranoia was showing," Rathburn said.
Jesse Reyes, a deputy chief for 13 years, was demoted to major. He had served in the past as acting assistant chief.(Ron Baselice / Staff Photographer)
Then-Police Chief David Brown presented a deputy chief badge to Catrina Shead in July 2012. Shead commanded the northwest patrol division before being demoted recently to major to oversee the central patrol division. (Evans Caglage / Staff Photographer)
John Lawton (left), an assistant chief who's now a major, shook hands with a retired police officer riding in a memorial bike ride in April.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer)
Former Deputy Chief Malik Aziz talked to members of the community during a July meet-and-greet with finalists for the chief job. Aziz was demoted to major after U. Renee Hall was named chief.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)
Several longtime officers, some of whom have retired since Hall took over, said she never asked them for advice. Current commanders, too, said they don't know the chief and never had an opportunity to give input.
Maintaining the status quo was never in the job description, especially in a shrinking department with so many challenges, but Hall's critics question the wisdom of kicking so much experience to the curb.
"Of course, there has to be some disruption, and the disruption comes in the form of reorganization," Glover said. But he said Hall essentially benched "Michael Jordan and put J.J. Barea in the game."
Many commanders have expressed concerns about the chief's demeanor. They say she has a tendency to be brash and condescending in meetings.
They also have concerns about stability under the new regime. One deputy chief is leaving to become the chief in Galveston, and one is a finalist for a chief job in St. Louis. Several other assistant chiefs called it quits in the last year.
But above all, it was the demotions of Tittle and Aziz, two commanders with sharply different personalities and plenty of respect around the department, that struck a nerve.
Dallas officers listened last month at a news conference as Hall announced the new command structure.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)
Randy Blankenbaker, who retired as an assistant chief in October, said he was "baffled" by some of Hall's decisions.
"It's a disservice not only to Aziz and Tittle but to the citizens that they're not going to get the full benefit of their experience and their knowledge," he said. "It's important that your command staff is big enough that you have proper oversight of the organization."
Retired Assistant Chief Michael Genovesi, who left the force in 2015, said he was encouraged by some of the promotions and by Hall's decision to reduce a bloated command staff. Doing so was never going to be easy, he acknowledged.
"Some of the folks that were demoted are worthy commanders," he said. "Ultimately, her vision is of a trimmed-down command. ... If you're going to get to a number, there's a good chance you are going to end up demoting some folks who have, up to that point, done a good job."
Some of Hall's critics suspect she's remaking the Dallas department to resemble Motown's.
"It's a totally different situation between Detroit and Dallas," said Rathburn, the former chief. "Detroit is a city that is trying to rebuild and re-establish itself, but it's been in a cutback mode historically in the past 20 or 30 years."
Dallas, meanwhile, is growing, and City Hall is trying to beef up its department and hire hundreds more officers in the coming years.
Rathburn said he's concerned about Hall's decisions but wishes her well.
"The department needs strong, effective leadership," he said.
Politically, Hall still has the support she needs. Assistant City Manager Jon Fortune, who oversees the Police Department, said he couldn't be happier with Hall so far.
"I'm very pleased that she's come in and started right off the bat assessing the needs of the department and is taking a very thoughtful and detailed review of things," he said.
Fortune expected the criticism and said anyone in the chief's job was going to catch flak at some point.
"Look, this is a hard job. Protecting the community is a serious business," he said. "The expectations are high because the stakes are high."
For the most part, the chief has met expectations in the community. City Council member Adam McGough has noticed that the chief leaves behind more engaged and curious audiences at speaking engagements.
"The community wants a police chief that they can see and touch and know that she's out there working for them — that's what we're seeing," said McGough, who chairs the council's public safety committee.
He said the average resident probably isn't aware of the "inside baseball and the politics" that go on behind the scenes.
But not everyone in the community is pleased.
Hall angered some Latino community leaders who asked in a September meeting whether she would consider having a Latino as the department's second-in-command.
"She says, 'I'm not going to be bullied into hiring a Latino,'" community activist Hilda Duarte told Channel 8. "She said [it] with an attitude, and I thought to myself, 'I'm the one being bullied.'"
Hall was bound to run into thorny issues running a big city police department, where egos and agendas abound. Police associations believe that simply putting on a Dallas police uniform will help her. But she hasn't donned one yet because she doesn't have her certification from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to be a state peace officer.
The Dallas Police Association has said the chief looks more like a "politician" than a cop to a rank and file that is clamoring for a strong leader who can fight for their needs and fix a department in limbo.
City officials have said Hall will take the exam by the end of the year, but with the new year close at hand, it's unclear whether that will happen.
The coming year will be focused on results. Fortune said Hall has proved that she is focused on community and service. In 2018, he wants to see strategies for combating aggravated assaults and an epidemic of the synthetic drug K2.
"I think she's up to the challenge," he said.
Naheed Rajwani
NRajwani@dallasnews.com @naheedrajwani
Tristan Hallman
thallman@dallasnews.com /DallasCityHallman tristanhallman
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