NBCDFW.com
by Jack Highberger

The Dallas Police Department will likely fall short of recruitment goals for this year, Dallas City data shows.

DPD hopes to hire 250 new officers by September 30th but so far has hired only 39.

“When you get to the point that you are constantly trying to do more with less, eventually you are getting less with less,” said Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata.

NBC 5 reached out to the Dallas Police Department for comment but did not receive an answer at the time of this stories air.

In recent months officers have been moved from other departments to patrol to make up for staffing shortfalls, said Mata.

Citywide, police response times have risen across the board, with the average time for “priority 4” calls rising by 20-minutes in 2017. Current recruitment efforts are also set against the back drop of lingering questions concerning the pension fund and entry level salaries that are increasingly topped by neighboring cities.

“How do you convince that young officer that has the ability to leave or that officer that has a wife or kids, how do you get them to come to a city that is going to pay them less,” said Mata. READ MORE...