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**U.S. Department of Justice**                    Office of Community Oriented Policing Services                    145 N Street, N.E.                     Washington, DC 20530 www.cops.usdoj.gov× Menu    		- Home
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 The Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police Department: “Where Community Policing and Customer Service Meet” 
 July 2017 | Volume 10 | Issue 7

*The  COPS Office is pleased to feature the July 2017 winner of the Community  Policing in Action Photo Contest—the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Police  Department. The winning photo features a young boy and a DART police officer  having a conversation in Dallas’s Rosa Parks Plaza.*

The Dallas  Area Rapid Transit Police Department,  also known as the DART Police, is responsible for safeguarding the longest  light rail system in North America, covering 700 square miles and spanning 13  cities 1.  With 64 stations, almost 12,000 bus stops,  and nine transit centers, the DART system requires strong relationships with  communities and local police departments to maintain the safety and security of  its passengers. DART has Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with each of the  13 cities it travels through to ensure that emergencies and calls for service  are answered promptly. If an incident occurs on a bus, rail, or train and a  customer dials 911, the local police department is often the first to respond;  however, DART police are not far behind. 

“Believe it or not,  on transit, they [passengers] want to see a police officer on every train and  every bus. The expectation is just so high,” said DART Police Chief James D.  Spiller, who has led the department since 2005. “We have a 10 to 12 minute  response time to all of our buses and trains, which is absolutely amazing when  you consider that we’re covering 700 square miles.”   

Technology-assisted  policing helps DART connect to its approximately 200,000 daily riders. With  over 3,000 closed circuit television cameras, DART Police monitor activity 24  hours a day, seven days a week. With cameras at ticket vending machines and  call boxes, police can see customers as they call for assistance. If an  immediate threat exists in an area where no DART officers are patrolling, DART  police can quickly contact local police to deploy to the scene and help diffuse  the situation. 

All DART Police  officers are expected to provide five-star customer service. “We’re trying to  wow our customers,” Spiller said. “Overall as an agency, we want to get our  five-star rating up to spectacular. We want employees holding themselves  responsible and accountable to make sure customers have a good experience. We  provide personalized service with a proactive attitude.”

Community policing  for DART includes requesting feedback and taking the time to respond to it.  When DART Police hold any type of community event, they provide the customer  survey to attendees and track the information in a database. The survey is  about the entire system, not just public safety, so community members can  provide information on any part of their DART experience. Spiller reviews the  feedback and ensures that all concerns—not just public safety complaints—are  answered to in a timely manner. 

  “If a customer  indicates that they want to be called back and we see that no one has called  them, I will call the vice president of that area [within DART] and make sure  that they follow up with the customer,” Spiller said.  

Spiller’s personal  concern for customer satisfaction stretches to DART officers and their families  as well. He puts a great deal of effort into ensuring the department  successfully retains officers by making himself available to every employee. He  has an open-door policy that he says is more than just words. Officers are more  than welcome to visit him at any time, and he gives everyone his phone number  in case they prefer to speak confidentially and privately. He also stresses  that in recruiting officers, the department is also recruiting their families. 

“We treat the  family just as we treat the officers,” he shared. “Family members don’t need an  appointment to come see me and they have my phone number also. They have  reached out to me to tell me good things, and some have reached out for help. I  tell them that I don’t want to get into their business, but if something isn’t  working out right at home, let me know. Because we want their [officers’] minds  clear when they are here. So if something’s not right, we want to know. We will  take an officer or civilian and send them to whatever counseling or medical  situation they need at no cost, and if we need to send the family, we’ll send  the family also.”

That philosophy has  been particularly significant this year for the DART Police and the entire  Dallas community. Last July, DART Police lost one of its own in the tragic  police ambush during a Dallas-area protest. Three DART Police officers were  also injured, including the officer featured in this month’s winning photo.  Officer Elmar Cannon regularly patrolled the Rosa Parks Plaza, a transportation  hub for buses and light rail in Dallas’s West End—the same area where five  officers were killed and nine were injured on July 7, 2016. 

An average of  65,000 people travel through the Rosa Parks Plaza each week; to help maintain  order, DART officers have maintained a strong presence there. Spiller explained  that using the SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment) Model of  problem-oriented policing, Dallas has seen a “drastic reduction in disorder” in  highly trafficked areas, such as the Rosa Parks Plaza. Officer Cannon, who  worked in the Rosa Parks Plaza area, often interacted with commuters. On the  day that the photo was taken, Cannon was chatting with a young boy while his  mother and sister stood nearby. DART staff photographer, Lupe Hernandez, captured the moment.

Yet, despite its  best efforts to reduce crime and disorder in that area, the DART Police  Department suffered a tremendous blow when a gunman fired upon police officers  during an evening protest. Officer Cannon was shot in the shoulder that night  as he and fellow DART Police and Dallas Police Department (DPD) officers  attempted to locate and apprehend the gunman. His bravery and quick thinking  helped the Dallas Police Department ultimately capture the shooter—though, sadly,  one of his fellow DART officers did not survive the attack.  

This tragedy was  devastating for the department, as this was the first time a DART Police  officer had been killed in the line of duty2.  And though Spiller had always emphasized the  importance of mental well-being to DART staff, this incident required a new  level of commitment. 

“In 2003, when I  was deputy chief, I had mandated that everyone involved in a critical incident  had to meet with a psychologist and they would not come back to work until they  were cleared. One, it was not an option. And two, no one was reporting to me as  the deputy chief so that took away a lot of their fears,” he explained. “After  the [2016] shooting, everyone went, including myself.And that set the tone, it  made everyone feel better.”

  “We went back and  took a look at lessons learned,” he continued. “We made changes. We changed our  training.”

When asked if  Officer Cannon was back on the job, Spiller proudly shared that he is, but he  works in a different area now. “There was a lot of hesitancy to go back to that  area. We kept close tabs on the officers that worked down there and those that  worked downtown. Those officers that worked there [the area where the shooting  occurred] did not go back. We put them somewhere else. All of the officers came  back. And they’re all still here. They were all anxious to come back.” Spiller  mentioned that one officer who was injured during the shooting is still out on  medical leave, but plans to return once cleared by her doctor. 

As we reach the  one-year anniversary of that horrific day, the Dallas community will host a  number of memorials to remember the officers killed in the line of duty.  Spiller knows that it will be a tough day for officers and families and plans  to offer additional counseling to those that need it. 

 “We like to consider ourselves as being one of  the leading transit agencies in the U.S.,” he said. “I think we proved that  extremely well with our response to the shooting in the July by the way we  treat our employees. We focus on customers, but we focus on employees as well.” 

The COPS Office  congratulates the DART Police Department for  being one of the 12 winners of the COPS Office 2017 Community Policing in  Action Photo Contest and for its commitment to community policing.

*The COPS Office  remembers DART Police Officer Brent Thompson, DPD Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, DPD  Sgt. Michael Smith, DPD Officer Michael Krol, and DPD Officer Patricio  "Patrick" Zamarripa. 

Written with  contributions from DART Police Chief James D. Spiller. Photo courtesy of Lupe  Hernandez.

          Najla Haywood          Managing Editor          COPS Office

References1  “Facts About Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART),” DART website, accessed June 2,  2017,   https://www.dart.org/about/dartfacts.asp.

2  “Dallas Area Rapid Transit, 2016 Shooting, Wikipedia, accessed June 5, 2017,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Area_Rapid_Transit#2016_shooting.
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