Dallas officers still seething over funeral procession for Police Chief David Brown's son

Dallas News ^ | 6/27/2010 | Tanya Eiserer

[I_Like_Spam]

It just doesn’t seem to be good form to make a big to-do for the funeral of someone who was killed in the commission of a major violent crime, especially murder.

Just seems disrespectful to the survivors.

[GeronL]

The Chief should be fired immediately.

[lightman]

Grounds for mutiny and fragging.

[dragnet2]

This is beyond bizarre.

[McGavin999]

This goes way over the line. Is Dallas still in Texas? It used to be a beautiful city, sounds like they are really developing some problems.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

The entire DPD, including clerical staff, should just stop obeying the chief’s orders until he is removed from office.

People come together on stupid stuff all the time.
Why can’t they ever come together on real outrages?

[Richard Kimball]

In many towns, a police escort is done for all funerals. These are usually two off duty motorcycle officers who are paid by the families. This escort was done by the police department, and included twelve officers on motorcycles. This type of escort is normally only done to honor a fallen officer or other figure of public importance. As the Chief's son killed a citizen and a police officer, the police and many citizens are furious.

The order was given by a deputy chief, not Chief Brown. Right now, nobody at police headquarters is saying anything, so it's anyone's guess if the deputy chief was acting on the instructions of the chief or not. The cops are livid and the city manager is distancing herself from the decision.

People had held off on criticizing Brown prior to this, as he had just lost his son in circumstances that would make any parent of conscience suicidal. They won't let this pass, though.

[aynrandfreak]

Brown must go, or at the very least Julian Bernal does (if Brown had no hand in getting the escort, which seems unlikely)

[Maverick68]

Perhaps some justice-loving Patriot should find this cop-killers grave and give it the ole’ Cleveland Steamer....

[Squantos]

LEO bump......

[B-Chan]

Local tribal chieftain uses trophy wealth for feast in honor of slain successor.

[Richard Kimball]

Upper management in emergency services requires the ability to slap a vacuum on a 50 pound onion sack, suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, or whatever other analogy for getting on your knees you care to apply.

Two possibilities. One is that Brown ordered Bernal to do it. The other is that Bernal, knowing his boss would be in the funeral procession, did it as a gesture of support. I doubt Bernal or Brown expected this kind of explosion.

[raybbr]

Blood before honor. That’s how Obama got elected.

[deport]

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/06/decision-to-use-on-duty-office.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, who oversees the traffic unit, said that as the funeral procession was headed to the cemetery, the private motorcycle escort was having trouble keeping up.

He said other motorists were zipping past the slow-moving line of cars and weaving in and out of the procession to try to exit Central Expressway. He also said an accident at Walnut Hill Lane added to the problems.

Bernal, who was in the funeral procession, said he then ordered on-duty assistance to help control traffic.

“It was dangerous, and it was a matter of public safety,” Bernal said.......

“This action was also conducted without Chief David Brown’s knowledge,” Suhm stated.
Bernal said he knew his decision would be controversial.

“I want to take full responsibility. I made the decision to do it, and this was absolutely not planned,” Bernal said. “I did it out of respect for my chief and for a family who had lost somebody.”

end snips

[rawhide]

the order made by Dallas police DC Julian Bernal

chief Brown should have cancelled this order, unless he personally approved of it, whuch I suspect he did.

[nascarnation]

Will Baraq be attending the funeral and issuing a posthumous pardon?

[raybbr]

The other is that Bernal, knowing his boss would be in the funeral procession, did it as a gesture of support. I doubt Bernal or Brown expected this kind of explosion.

And yet, for the same error in judgment McChrystal got fired.

[CaptainK]

"He said other motorists were zipping past the slow-moving line of cars and weaving in and out of the procession to try to exit Central Expressway. He also said an accident at Walnut Hill Lane added to the problems."

Sounds like every funeral procession I encounter on a nearby state parkway and the cops never intervene.

[rawhide]

If this is true, then this clarifies what happened, and the order may have been justified. OP article seems to suggest this was a preplanned event.