The president of the Dallas Police Association is questioning why a civilian employee under investigation by the Dallas Police Department remains in her public-facing role.<\/p>\n
Allison Hudson, the department\u2019s assistant director of media relations, is under investigation after sources say she allegedly used a police vehicle equipped with emergency lights and sirens.<\/p>\n
The department has confirmed an open investigation but says it cannot share additional details.<\/p>\n
Hudson was named to her position in January.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Hudson appeared at Dallas City Hall during a council meeting and took photos with members of DPD\u2019s Police Explorers program, which just earned first place in a major state competition. Hudson\u2019s appearance drew criticism from members of the Dallas Police Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t need this individual being the face of the department while under investigation,\u201d DPA President Sean Pease said.<\/p>\n
Pease said he spoke with Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux by phone on Thursday. According to Pease, the chief told him the vehicle Hudson used was the only one available.<\/p>\n
Pease said that explanation does not change department policy or Texas law, which restricts who can use a vehicle with emergency equipment. He also questioned whether Hudson is being treated differently from sworn officers facing similar allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concern that I have is it’s being treated different than rank and file officers are treated,\u201d Pease said.<\/p>\n
Pease said some union members facing misdemeanor-level criminal allegations have been placed on administrative leave immediately. He believes Hudson should be subject to the same standards.<\/p>\n
In response, the department said, \u201cIt is not Department practice to place an employee on administrative leave solely because a complaint was made.\u201d<\/p>\n
DPD also said investigations conducted by its Public Integrity Unit must remain confidential. Comeaux said he has not requested any changes to the investigation.<\/p>\n
Pease acknowledged that Hudson deserves due process but said his concern is about equal treatment.<\/p>\n
The dispute comes as the police association\u2019s contract expired at the end of September, leaving negotiations ongoing. Pease also pointed to a $30,000 funding need for the department\u2019s Police Explorers program following a funding cut.<\/p>\n
He said he would rather see attention focused on those issues than on the investigation involving Hudson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish that this wasn’t even an issue that we were even addressing,\u201d Pease said.<\/p>\n
DPD says it cannot provide further details about the case. Comeaux said he expects the department to conduct thorough investigations fairly and with integrity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The president of the Dallas Police Association is questioning why a civilian employee under investigation by the Dallas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-475718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}