Law and government of Dallas, Texas

This article is about law and government in Dallas, Texas (USA).

Municipal Government

The city uses a council-manager government with Tom Leppert serving as mayor, Mary Suhm serving as city manager, and 14 council members serving as representatives to the 14 council districts in the city. [http://www.dallascityhall.com/ City of Dallas] - [http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/mayor/mayor.html Mayor] . Retrieved 16 October 2006.] [http://www.dallascityhall.com/ City of Dallas] - [http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/CityManager/city_manager_suhm.html City Manager] . Retrieved 13 January 2007.] [ [http://www.dallascityhall.com/ City of Dallas] - [http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/government.html Government] . Retrieved 16 October 2006.] This organizational structure was recently contested by some in favor of a strong-mayor city charter only to be rejected by Dallas voters.

Budget

In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, the city's total budget (the sum of operating and capital budgets) was US$2,344,314,114. [http://www.dallascityhall.com/Budget/Introduction.pdf City of Dallas FY06-07 Adopted Budget Overview] . (PDF). Retrieved 17 October 2006.] The city has seen a steady increase in its budget throughout its history due to sustained growth: the budget was $1,717,449,783 in 2002-2003, $1,912,845,956 in 2003-2004, [ [http://dallascityhall.org/pdf/FY04AdoptedBudget/Introduction/Introduction.pdf City of Dallas FY03-04 Adopted Budget Overview] . (PDF). Retrieved 9 May 2006.] , $2,049,685,734 in 2004-2005 [http://dallascityhall.org/pdf/FY06AdoptedBudget/Overview/Overview.pdf City of Dallas FY05-06 Adopted Budget Overview] . (PDF). Retrieved 9 May 2006.] and $2,218,345,070 in 2005-2006.

Representatives

Courts

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which exercises original jurisdiction over 100 counties in North and West Texas, convenes in the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse in the Government District of downtown. The same building additionally houses United States Bankruptcy and Magistrate Courts and a United States Attorney office. Dallas also is the seat of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas.

Crime and enforcement

Police Department

Policing in Dallas is provided by the Dallas Police Department which has 2,977 officers. [http://dallascityhall.org/ DallasCityHall.org] - [http://dallascityhall.org/info/about.html All About Dallas] . Retrieved 4 May 2006.] The Dallas chief of police is David Kunkle. [http://dallascityhall.org/ DallasCityHall.org] - [http://dallascityhall.org/government/government.html Government] . Retrieved 7 May 2006.] The central police station is located in the Cedars, a south Dallas neighborhood adjacent to downtown.

Crime

From 1998 until 2005 (the most recent year with available statistics), the city of Dallas has had the highest overall crime rate for the nine United States cities with over 1 million people. [ [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html infoplease.com] . The nine cities are, in order from greatest to least populous, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, and Dallas.] Violent crime in Dallas was also ranked #1 during the same time period. Murders peaked at 500 in 1991. It then fluctuated from 227 in 2000 to 240 in 2001, 196 in 2002, 223 in 2003, 275 in 2004, [ [http://www.analyzedallas.org/ AnalyzeDallas.org] . Violent Crime Statistics for [http://www.analyzedallas.org/AnalyzeDallas/Pages/DisplayData.aspx?id=361&returncat=0.2.1 2000] , [http://www.analyzedallas.org/AnalyzeDallas/Pages/DisplayData.aspx?id=362&returncat=0.2.1 2001] , [http://www.analyzedallas.org/AnalyzeDallas/Pages/DisplayData.aspx?id=363&returncat=0.2.1 2002] , [http://www.analyzedallas.org/AnalyzeDallas/Pages/DisplayData.aspx?id=364&returncat=0.2.1 2003] , and [http://www.analyzedallas.org/AnalyzeDallas/Pages/DisplayData.aspx?id=366&returncat=0.2.1 2004] . Retrieved 9 February 2006.] and finally 198 in 2005, marking a sharp decline over the two previous years. However, Dallas was again ranked in 2005 as the most dangerous city out of the ten largest cities in the United States. [ [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4197441.html FBI says Dallas most dangerous large city in 2005] . "Houston Chronicle." 19 September 2006.]

Fire Protection

Fire protection and emergency medical services in the city are provided by Dallas Fire-Rescue, which has 1,670 firefighters and 56 working fire stations in the city limits. [ [http://dallasfirerescue.com/sta_list/stadrlst.html Dallas Fire-Rescue] - Station List - Note stations 40 and 50 do not exist, thus listing of 57-2 = 55. Retrieved 4 May 2006.] The Dallas Fire & Rescue chief is Eddie Burns, Sr. The department also operates the Dallas Firefighter's Museum at Dallas's oldest remaining fire station, built in 1907, along Parry Avenue near Fair Park.

See also

* Sister cities of Dallas, Texas

References

External links

* [http://www.dallascityhall.com City of Dallas]
* [http://www.texas.gov State of Texas]