MAPB Department of Justice Complaint Press Release
October 14, 2024
Contact:
David Henderson, Ellwanger Henderson
737-808-2260, dhenderson@equalrights.law
Mothers Against Police Brutality requests U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Dallas Police Department, citing 50 years of “unaccountable police brutality’’
Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB) has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice seeking an investigation of the Dallas Police Department’s disproportionate violence against people of color and its handling of brutality cases.
The 19-page complaint details how Black citizens are more likely to be shot or killed by Dallas officers; how Dallas officers use deadly force on people who do not pose an imminent threat; how only a fraction of officers facing complaints of excessive force over the last half century have ever been disciplined; how citizens face needless barriers when attempting to file police misconduct complaints; and how the police department’s internal investigations fail to conform with federal standards. The complaint includes almost 30,000 internal Dallas police records going back more than five decades.
Our findings are comparable to those of DOJ investigators in other troubled police departments across the U.S., including in Chicago, Los Angeles, Ferguson, Minneapolis, and Phoenix.
MAPB, a national organization based in Dallas, was founded by Collette Flanagan after a Dallas officer shot to death her unarmed son, Clinton Allen, in 2013. “Clinton was shot seven times,” said Ms. Flanagan. “Five times in the chest, once in his upper left arm, and once at close range in the back. What we have documented in this request to the DOJ is the untold human cost of this department’s brutality over many years.”
Ellwanger Henderson is a law firm based in Austin and Dallas with a deep legacy of civil rights work through the Ellwanger family, which worked with leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Partner David Henderson is an expert on issues of inequity and failed justice systems, frequently appearing in national and local media.
John Fullinwider, a longtime Dallas activist and co-founder of MAPB, said the complaint is long overdue. “Dallas police chiefs have always used the rhetoric of reform after violence by officers, beginning with the killing of Michael Morehead in 1970. But the reality of unaccountable police brutality is embedded deep in the city’s police culture. Police chiefs come and go, but the history and culture of the department remain.”
Miles Moffeit, a veteran investigative journalist who works for the Peter Johnson Institute for Non-Violence in Dallas, said the public records turned over to the justice department make up a “rare and massive trove of evidence showing a broken accountability system.”
MAPB is seeking a probe commonly known as a “pattern or practice” investigation that broadly examines Dallas police practices. Such investigations generally lead to federal oversight.
“We have described in this complaint a culture of impunity when it comes to police violence while documenting highly racialized uses of force,” said Mr. Henderson. “This system must be reformed.”
Police in the United States have shot to death more than 8,000 people since 2015. “Every day in America, the lives of three people, like my son Henry, are stolen by police,” said Adrienne Hood.
These community leaders, from 10 different U.S. cities, were selected as MAPB Fellows out of more than 150 applicants nationwide. Each of these women has been directly impacted by police violence, and they have emerged as change agents for justice in their home communities.
Last year, the Mothers participated in a week of online dialogues, Voices of Struggle & Hope: Mothers Speak Out on Police Brutality, a series of discussions with policymakers, media, faith leaders and activists to provide the first-person truth about the crisis of fatal police shootings that devastates a thousand families every year in the United States.
The MAPB Fellowship Legacy Program is a leadership development initiative operating in 10 cities. The ten Fellows have a track record of advocating for their martyred children and organizing for change in their hometowns. Through the Fellowship, they are networking with other mothers, learning new skills, and gaining experiences that will help them to become leaders in the broader movement to change policing and, in particular, as part of MAPB’s growing national network of families directly impacted by police violence.
Mothers Against Police Brutality was founded by Collette Flanagan in 2013 after her unarmed son, Clinton Allen was shot to death by Dallas police. Our mission is to prevent police use of deadly force, particularly the killing of Black and other people of color; to change police deadly force policies and practices; to advocate for and with families who have lost loved ones to police violence; and to expand the concept of public safety with new policies limiting encounters between police and the public and making deep social investments in housing, health care, mental health services, employment, education, arts, recreation, and other presently unmet human needs. MAPB protests unjust policing, organizes communities most impacted, conducts research, and advocates for policy change in local, national, and international forums.
For more information or questions, please contact:
Collette Flanagan, collette.president@mapbdallas.com
John Fullinwider, 214-683-2493, jhfullinwider@gmail.com
Miles Moffeit, 469-328-3643, mmoffeit@gmail.com
More info on MAPB here:
