NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE
DALLAS Dallas Police Chief David Brown is planning to reward officers who worked during the Super Bowl, but the gesture is causing a big controversy.
Some officers feel Brown is unfairly recognizing some while forgetting others.
Hundreds of officers worked at Super Bowl-related events or security while on-duty. Chief Brown feels that deserves an award.
Those departmental employees involved in the planning process are to be commended for their attention to detail and long hours of preparation, Brown said in a memo released to staffers. To those officers working the venues and special assignments, you not only provided for public safety, but did so in a professional manner that brought great credit to the Dallas Police Department.
News 8 has learned that more than 850 officers will receive a Certificate of Merit or a Police Commendation Bar, awards that will cost the city thousands of dollars.
That has upset many officers, including patrol officers who came in early on shifts some even spending the night at their patrol stations during the ice storm. But because they weren't part of the Super Bowl group, they will not be recognized.
On a police blog, officers vented their frustrations:
What a slap in the face, said one. What about the rest of the officers who worked the rest of the city in the worse weather Dallas has seen in awhile?
I got a lousy COM for being attacked with a butcher knife. I could have slept in the back seat of a Charger in front of the Convention Center and got one, another officer wrote.
Chief Brown was trying to do a good thing, but many officers said they plan to decline the award, saying they were just doing their jobs.
E-mail rlopez@wfaa.com
