DART Police Staff

Chief » Charles Cato Deputy Chiefs » Matt Walling - Field Operations » Currently vacant - Operations Support Lieutenants » Lt. K. Austin » Lt. D. Collins » Lt. R. Horner » Lt. D. Hyder » Lt. R. Lindsey » Lt. C. Parker » Lt. S. Plunk » Lt. J. Ruiz » Lt. S. Smith

Special Services » Janie Gonzalez - Manager Emergency Preparedness » Jill Shaw - Manager Administration Support » Sonia Garcia - Manager Public Safety Technologies » Charles Byrd - Manager Quartermaster » Jonathan Armstead - Manager

The DART Police Department is comprised of three major bureaus: Administrative Services, Field Operations, and Operations Support.

Administrative Services Bureau

The Administrative Services Bureau provides day-to-day services for employees, internal and external customers. These services are provided through the following areas:

• Budget – In FY 2022, our budget for police services was $47,361,728. This budget reflected our authorized strength of 429. In FY 2023, the police department projected budget is $49,703,484.
  
  
• Records Management – The Records section perform duties related to the storage and dissemination of police information while also focusing on providing excellent customer service. Staff enters and retrieves various types of data from files and automated law enforcement records management systems. The team compiles data for crime analysis, monthly statistical reports, and State and Federal reporting, to include the racial profiling report. Also, this section maintains and processes all offense reports, accident reports, and citations with the respective State and Justice of Peace Courts on a weekly basis. This section’s goals are to update Department records retention for FY 2022.

Field Operations Bureau

The Field Operations Bureau provides police services for DART Light Rail, Bus Operations, Trinity Metro, Mobility Management Services, Dallas Streetcar and DART Facilities encompassing 700 square miles: officers cover 93 miles of light rail, 65 light rail stations, 30 miles of commuter rail, six (6) commuter rail stations, one (1) commuter rail operating facility, over 7,000 bus stops, three (3) bus divisions and two (2) light rail operating facilities. Field Operations is comprised of the following divisions:

• Rail Operations - Fare Enforcement Officers (FEO) provide a uniformed police presence throughout the DART Light Rail and TRE commuter trains focusing on fare compliance, customer service and safety and security. The primary duties of FEOs are to inspect passengers for proper fare and provide customer service and assistance throughout the rail system. FEOs issue fare evasion citations when necessary and report disruptive behavior to DART Police Officers for police action. While FEOs possess no police power, they provide a uniformed presence on DART light rail and TRE trains while providing the highest level of customer service to patrons following our 5-Star Service Program training. FEOs initiatives include addressing quality of life issues on board the DART Light Rail Trains throughout the LRT system. They also provide customer service during periods of service interruptions.
  
  In addition, there are armed Security Guards providing uniformed presence and the capability of immediate notification for a police response if needed assigned to various stations throughout the system.
  
  
• Patrol Operations - Patrol Officers provide police services to bus and light rail operations, mobility management services, Trinity Metro and DART facilities. Officers board buses, patrol bus routes, conduct visits of bus stops, transit centers, passenger transfer locations, and park and ride facilities, as well as DART Administrative and Operations facilities. Patrol officers also respond to calls for service at rail facilities and provide support to rail officers, fare enforcement officers and contract security guards throughout our rail operating area. A permanent police presence is maintained in the Central Business District at the West End Station, Rosa Parks Plaza and the West Transfer Center to address crime and quality of life issues.
  
  
• Special Operations consist of two categories: the Special Operations Team and Canine Handlers (K-9 Unit).
  
  
  • Special Operations Team (SOT) – Initially funded by the Department of Homeland Security, a four-person team for antiterrorism and domestic terrorism detection and prevention was established. DART Police expanded the team to include four additional team members to reduce crime at identified hotspots and increase apprehension of felons who commit crimes on the system. The team also coordinates enhanced security presence at DART light rail stations, transfer centers, and on DART buses with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Visible Intermodal Protection Response (VIPER) teams from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport.
  
  
  • Canine Handlers (K-9 Unit) – Through a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) cooperative agreement, the department has four explosives-detection K-9 teams, which greatly enhance the Agency's response and timely assessment of bomb threats against DART assets, decreasing the time an asset is out-of-service and service disruptions.

Operations Support Bureau

The Operations Support Bureau is comprised of criminal investigations, emergency preparedness, quartermaster, hiring and recruiting, special services, and public safety technology. In addition to operating many of the support functions of the police department, Operations Support is the lead bureau in maintaining our “accreditation” status by the Texas Police Chiefs Association Foundation Accreditation Program.

• Quartermaster Division - This division manages the DART Police vehicle fleet consisting of patrol, administrative, and specialized vehicles (vans, pick-up trucks, T-3's and motorcycles). They also manage and maintain a "bench stock" of supplies and equipment for department personnel. They are responsible for the procurement, issuance, tracking and inventory of police equipment and uniforms.
  
  
• Criminal Investigations Division (CID) is responsible for processing crime scenes, conducting criminal investigations, interacting with the medical examiners' offices; gathering, preparing and distributing intelligence information, and preparing cases for court presentation. They are also the point of contact for other police agencies for access to DART's CCTV video for use in the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.
  
  
• Emergency Preparedness Division is responsible for planning and preparing for emergencies, to include developing security actions in response to National Terrorism Advisory System threat alerts; applying for and overseeing Homeland Security grants; conducting multi-jurisdictional, tabletop and full scale exercises; performing needs and threat analyses; conducting Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) studies at DART facilities; and providing security awareness training for all DART employees. The Emergency Preparedness Division also oversees the updates on agency emergency operations and security plans. Other duties of the section include managing the security guard contracts, DART employee identification cards and facility access programs. In the FY2022, most of the team's time was devoted to Emergency Preparedness full-scale and tabletop exercises. During July 2022, the team will be focused on Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) training.
  
  
• Special Services Division consists of the Hiring and Recruiting Section and the Training Section.
  
  
  • The Hiring & Recruiting Division coordinates all hiring and recruiting for the department. This team is responsible for complying with all State and Federal requirements in the hiring of department personnel, as well as recruiting to fill vacant positions. In 2022, the Hiring and Recruiting section travelled to New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to recruit police officers. For FY 2023, this section's goals are to step up recruitment efforts now there are no COVID 19 restrictions.
  
  
  • The Training Section provides state-mandated and specialized police training to all officers, including firearms, use of force, de-escalation, crisis intervention training, community policing and problem solving, etc. In 2022, our training unit supported the safety and security goals by ensuring all new police cadets were aligned with the first available training academy. This section's goal for 2023 is to continue preparing new officers, fare enforcement officers, and civilians for the ever-changing policing environment and to comply with the extensive State mandated training requirements for police officers.
  
  
  • The Police Telecommunications (Police Dispatch) section has an authorized strength of fourteen telecommunicators; they are responsible for receiving police calls for service (CFS), dispatching calls to DART Police Officers, monitoring police radio transmissions, and processing requests for National Criminal Information Center and Texas Criminal Information Center reports using the Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. The section also reports service disruptions, domestic and foreign terrorist incidents to the State of Texas, Transportation Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security.
  
  
  • Nine camera monitors assist telecommunicators by providing video footage to responding police and fare enforcement officers or other DART employees during an event impacting DART customers, services, and continuity of operation. This includes incidents in progress, previously committed incidents, or review for violation of DART's Code of Conduct. Camera monitors also respond to customers using our ELERTs app to report incidents or request police on DART trains, buses, and facilities. Because of the large area DART covers, both camera monitors and dispatchers work closely with outside agencies to ensure the safety of our customers and assets.
  
  
• Public Safety Technology Division is responsible for soliciting, evaluating and implementing procurement actions for all DART Police technology projects and Agency closed circuit television (CCTV) projects for DART trains, facilities and park and rides. The section is comprised of eight public safety technicians who maintain the computer aided dispatch, records management system, body-worn cameras, mobile data computers and in-car camera systems as well as the hand-held electronic citation devices used by police and fare enforcement officers. Officers use multiple types of technology to complete their daily duties because DART Police embraces technology to support its operation and achievement of strategic goals.

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