Acting Police Chief Plans Background Checks For Officers

[TexasStooge]

DALLAS, Texas -- Stung by revelations about one officer's questionable past, Dallas' acting police chief has decided to take action.

Randy Hampton is launching a huge effort to reinvestigate officers' backgrounds. He will meet Thursday with District Attorney Bill Hill to decide the exact scope and timetable. At the very least, each of Dallas' nearly 3,000 police officers will undergo new criminal background checks, a mammoth process that could take three months.

The move comes after revelations about fired Officer Derrick Evans, involved in a questionable shooting at a Pleasant Grove Recreation Center this summer. Police now acknowledge that Evans was hired despite lying on his application about a conviction for public intoxication.

The case again strained the relationship between the Dallas Police Department and the district attorney, already rocky over last year's fake drug scandal that saw dozens of innocent men go to jail on bogus charges.

In a letter to then Police Chief Terrell Bolton, an assistant district attorney wrote: "If an officer has been convicted of a misdemeanor offense involving moral turpitude, our office needs to know... We may very well have a duty to disclose the conviction..." in criminal cases.

The associations representing Dallas police officers said the new background checks are a good idea. Police association leaders said they don't expect the new checks to turn up anything.

Hampton and the district attorney are expected to finalize their plan in Thursday's meeting.