TOWN HALL MEETING WITH DA CRAIG WATKINS The Dallas County - TopicsExpress

TOWN HALL MEETING WITH DA CRAIG WATKINS The Dallas County District Attorney, Craig Watkins, is holding a town hall meeting Monday, August 18, 2014 at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Downtown Dallas 1816 Routh Street, to address the concerns of police shootings. Watkins recently announced the creation of the first ever Civil Rights Unit at the Dallas DAs office to independently investigate police shootings; to add an extra layer of oversight in hopes of regaining the publics trust. This means a Dallas County prosecutor and an investigator will go to the scene of a police shooting to gather its own set of facts to bring more transparency to the investigation. Previously prosecutors would wait for police departments to bring the case to the DAs office, instead of investigating alongside them. Dallas Police Chief David Brown is in support of the DAs new Civil Rights Unit as well as Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez. Both will join Watkins at the town hall meeting to discuss this hot button issue. The purpose of the event is to start a dialogue with the community and address any concerns about police shootings, so that Dallas County does not experience unrest in the streets -- as such is the case in Ferguson, Missouri.