On Thursday night, June 4, as Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson was preparing to declare Friday, June 5 to be “George Floyd Remembrance Day in Dallas, Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall implemented a new general order regarding Dallas officers “duty to intervene.” The new regulation was implemented in response to the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as three other now-fired officers on the scene did nothing to intervene.
“Millions watched a Minneapolis police officer suffocate Mr. George Floyd to death by applying pressure with his knee on the victim’s neck for nearly nine minutes. His fellow co-workers either assisted or stood by and watched Mr. Floyd take his last breath. Had the officer’s partners intervened, the outcome might have been different,” a Dallas PD statement mailed to media just before midnight Thursday noted. “The [DPD] revision was developed to create a culture where what happened to Mr. Floyd does not happen again.”
General Order 901.00 – Response Continuum states: “Members of the Dallas Police Department (both sworn and non-sworn) have an obligation to protect the public and other employees. It shall be the duty of every employee present at any scene where physical force is being applied to either stop or attempt to stop another employee when force is being inappropriately applied or is no longer required.”
Notice of the new general order came the evening before Johnson and other elected officials held “Mourning at the Plaza: A Prayerful Remembrance of George Floyd at 8 a.m. Friday, June 5, and Johnson declared Friday to be “George Floyd Remembrance Day” in Dallas.
The Friday morning event outside City Hall included speeches by Johnson, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and others, followed a “moment of silence” lasting 8 minutes and 46 seconds — the length of time that Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck, killing him — at 8:46 a.m.
Dallas police officers were set to gather at the DPD Headquarters on Lamar Street at 11 a.m. for a Blue Lives for Black Lives Matter march to City Hall. And at 2 p.m. there will be special called meeting of Dallas City Council for councilmembers to hear input from the public and discuss police response to protests in Dallas over the last week. Johnson said in a press release Thursday evening that more than 200 people had already signed up to speak at that meeting.
Johnson said that the last seven-plus days “have been a challenging week for Dallas,” adding that the city is “still contending with COVID-19” and noting that on Thursday “Dallas County reported a new record-high in [COVID-19] cases.”
Johnson urged everyone attending public events to wear masks and practice social distancing.
— Tammye Nash
