Democratic candidates for Dallas District Attorney touted their qualifications and proposed reforming the district attorney’s office on Monday.

At the Belo Mansion Banquet Hall, three district attorney hopefuls answered questions about various aspects of the DA’s office and about the changes they would make if elected. The Democratic primary includes former Federal Prosecutor Larry Jarrett and local attorneys B.D. Howard and Craig Watkins. Criticism of the Dallas District Attorney’s past performance highlighted the debate.

“The problem is we have a law enforcement community that does not speak to each other,” said Larry Jarrett. “For eight years we have been the hype of crime in the nation. The City of Dallas has the highest crime rate in the country. That’s an abomination.”

Jarrett added that if elected District Attorney, he would work with law enforcement to better solve crime problems in the community. “We need a comprehensive law enforcement plan,” said Jarrett. “The only way we can develop a comprehensive law enforcement plan is by having everybody around the table.”

Craig Watkins, who lost to District Attorney Bill Hill in 2002, said that the District Attorney’s office needed a more preventative approach to reducing crime in Dallas. He said that the DA needed to be more than just a prosecutor and that the DA’s office should implement policies that would help improve the community in addition to prosecuting criminals.

“We should develop a policy that will prevent crimes from happening in the county,” said Watkins. “To develop those policies, we have to look at the underlying issues as to why people commit crimes. If we can educate our children, get them off drugs, we can lower the crime rate.”

Watkins also emphasized the “ideology” of the District Attorney throughout the debate. He said that the current DA’s office had the wrong ideology and that, if elected, he would not accept every case that the police department brings. Watkins suggested that the current ideology was “all about numbers.”

When asked about retaining current employees at the District Attorney, Watkins said, that if he were elected, those who were not a part of his ideology “must go”. Jarrett had similar plans for the District Attorney’s office.  “Every job is in jeopardy,” said Jarrett.

In response to a question about the fake drug scandal of 2001, B.D. Howard said that scandals like it can happen if the police department and the DA are too close together. “There must be a clear line between the DA and the police department,” said Howard, arguing that the best way to prevent future scandals from occurring is by having a clear separation between law enforcement agencies and the District Attorney’s office.

The 2001 “fake drug scandal” happened when police informants planted fake drugs on innocent people, ultimately leading to the indictments of several Dallas police officers.

Jarrett used the question about the scandal as an opportunity to tout his qualifications. “I am very proud of my record,” said Jarrett. “I do not have a record of deception.” Jarrett also used the question to take a jab at Watkins’ credentials, pointing to his role as an “intern prosecutor” in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office. Jarrett seemed to imply that Watkins was deceptively hyping up his qualifications for Dallas County District Attorney.

During the question and answer period, an audience member questioned Watkins about his role at the Tarrant County DA. Watkins campaign brochure states that he was an Assistant District Attorney for Tarrant County, though apparently his role with the Tarrant County DA was really that of an intern prosecutor.

Watkins suggested that there may be a typo in the brochure.

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