Dallas County budget cuts may eliminate jobs of constable whistleblowers

Article

A proposal to eliminate all five Dallas County constable traffic units as a budget-cutting measure is drawing concern from some county officials and others who fear it could be a hidden attempt to get rid of deputies who gave written testimony against their bosses.

County Judge Jim Foster, who helped initiate a civil investigation of Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans and former Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes, said it would be a mistake to eliminate the jobs of those who came forward to report wrongdoing.

Deputies say they were promised protection when they agreed to give sworn statements to Danny Defenbaugh, the county's constable investigator. They say they've been betrayed.

Defenbaugh completed his investigation earlier this year. He found that Evans may have abused his office by requiring his deputies to help with his re-election campaigns. And he concluded that Cortes abused his office by accepting bribes from a towing company and by mistreating his employees.

A special prosecutor was appointed in June to investigate criminal allegations. That probe is ongoing. So far, one arrest has been made: a former Cortes lieutenant who is charged with sexual assault, bribery, official oppression and other offenses.

Not sure what the best forum to put this in, so feel free to move.

What are the odds of eliminating the jobs of people that have given written testimony against their boss? The investigation has been going on for some time now. Dallas government has had alot of bad press recently. Bribes and corruption seems to be all over the place nowdays down here.

I really wanted to post this to show that corruption and conspiracy can even be at a small-scale level (local government).

Hey this is terrible news. Even more so that it is local for you, but just as well affects the rest of the States. If allegations of offering, and/or accepting bribes is true, there is no telling what else is going on. The geographical location, and population of the city compounds more onto the issue. This is within a border state, and to continue as a sovereign nation, we need our police force to participate in the security of our borders. First stop Dallas, next Grand Forks, ND. Or who knows where? Anywhere. We just don't need the corruption.

Good for the officers that had the balls to stand up for what they believe in instead of following blindly. We need to support more of this kind of action.