The meeting is the first opportunity the board has had to meet face-to-face with the new chief, and in advance of Tuesday’s meeting, board members said they sent six pages of questions to Comeaux’s office outlining topics they planned to discuss. Those topics included clarification on the chief’s stance on immigration enforcement, the board’s ability to access policing data for reviews, public safety response times and the voter-approved Dallas HERO hiring mandate.
But as board member Brandon Friedman started to ask a question about the Dallas Police Department’s role in immigration enforcement, a Dallas city attorney interrupted him.
“Mr. Friedman, if I may. This was noticed as an introduction for the chief,” the attorney stated. “Getting into specific policies, federal, state or local, is beyond the scope of what was noticed on the agenda.”
Tuesday’s agenda listed “Chief Daniel D. Comeaux Introduction to CPOB” as the first item. The attorney went on to say that if board members planned to ask policy-related questions of the police chief, those topics needed to be given public notice on the agenda.
“I'm sorry, this is part of an introduction. This is information we need to find out as part of an introduction,” Friedman pushed back. “I would like to continue by addressing the chief, to maybe generally ask him if he could respond to the letter that we sent him.”
That wasn’t listed on the agenda either, the attorney warned. Comeaux sat silently across from the horseshoe during this exchange.
“Can you tell us what topics he can talk about tonight specifically?’ Friedman asked.
“You can talk about introductory, broad umbrella [topics],” the city attorney responded. “You know, general stuff that you would do in an introduction, such as how long have you been a cop?”
As Friedman would point out, Comeaux’s biographical information has already been well distributed across Dallas. What has been harder to learn is the chief’s stance on policy issues, a trend dating back to his first day in office.
City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert (left) badges new Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Justin Ball (right) as new Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux looks on (middle).
Alyssa Fields
On April 23, Dallas offered the media five-minute increments for interviews with the chief on his first day on the job. Repeatedly, city communications officials blocked the chief from answering questions related to immigration and Dallas HERO.
Since then, there has been confusion on the immigration front, specifically.
Comeaux faced pushback last week after appearing on Fox News, in which he seemed to say, “Pick another city. Don't come to Dallas, you are not welcome,” when discussing migrants. The chief then backtracked and claimed that the comment was taken out of context and was a response to a question about violent felons.
Still, early in his tenure, Comeaux told the Dallas Morning News his officers would assist federal immigration officials if asked. His predecessor, interim Chief Michael Igo, had previously expressed that Dallas police officials would not aid federal departments in immigration-related issues.
It is perhaps worth mentioning that the city attorney did allow Comeaux to discuss his pride regarding the department’s handling of a Monday night anti-ICE protest at the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge, despite the topic not being listed on the agenda. Attorneys also allowed Comeaux’s introduction to be moved to the top of the meeting despite public comment being listed first on the agenda.
Comeaux did not stay to hear public comments, and several individuals expressed having come to the meeting to speak to the chief. Dallas resident Scott McWilliams made a point to say he "received notice” that immigration topics would be on the table at Tuesday’s meeting and had hoped to urge the chief not to allow DPD officers to be deployed on immigration raids.
“Our immigrant community, regardless of where they are in their journey to citizenship, is invaluable in our city, in my opinion,” McWilliams told the board. “But they're frightened because this isn't business as usual. … Remember, the getaway driver is just as responsible as the person robbing the bank, and the DPD, I believe, will be held just as responsible in our community for the actions of ICE.”
The oversight board became increasingly frustrated after Comeaux left the chamber, with several stating they felt they had been “set up to fail” by city attorneys who knew the board planned to ask tough questions during Tuesday’s meeting and did not advise them to update the agenda to reflect that planned questioning. Other board members brought up the idea that an oversight board being legally advised by city attorneys could be a conflict of interest, and outside counsel may be appropriate moving forward.
The oversight board is not slated to meet again until August, although several board members discussed the possibility of calling an emergency meeting to get answers from Comeaux.
“He might as well have not even shown up,” said board member Jonathan Maples. “We may not even see him for the rest of 2025. This is very, very disappointing, and to be honest with you, I’m pissed off to no means.”
