10 March 16-22, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents and other healthcare facilities to roll out workplace violence prevention policies and lead to standardization. Dr. Sue Bornstein, chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physi- cians, noted via email that Congress last year considered the so-called SAVE Act, which partly called for enhanced penalties for at- tacks in hospitals. On a national level, healthcare workers are five times more likely than other em- ployees to endure workplace violence, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported in August. And between 2011 and 2018, the rate of injuries sustained from such attacks increased by 63%. Some hospital systems are now restrict- ing building access for visitors, “flagging” the records of anyone who lashes out at em- ployees and training staff in de-escalation techniques and violence prevention, Born- stein said. “It’s a sad commentary on our society that hospitals whose purpose is to heal are also places of violence,” she said, adding that Anchía’s proposed legislation is a “step in the right direction to make these institu- tions safer for patients and professionals alike.” Everyone in the community has been or will be touched by a nurse at some point in their lives, Bumpus said, but workplace vio- lence is leading some to flee the field. “If we don’t have nurses taking care of Texans, then our healthcare system will es- sentially fail,” she said. “I encourage the public to also advocate for the prioritization of workplace violence prevention in our healthcare facilities so we can continue to keep nurses within the profession and at the bedside.” ▼ POLICE 40K FOR 30 YEARS DALLAS POLICE PLAN $40,000 INCENTIVE TO KEEP OFFICERS LONGER. BY JACOB VAUGHN T he Dallas Police Department has struggled over the last few years to retain officers and reach adequate staffing levels. That’s why it’s working to roll out a new incentive to keep officers on the job for an extra two years. DPD is calling it the 30-year retention in- centive. An officer who completes 30 years on the job will be eligible for a $40,000 pay- out. For years, the city has tried to reach staff- ing levels of 3,600–4,000 officers. Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Associa- tion, told the Observer in January that the department is 400–500 officers short. There are efforts to hire more people and train them faster, but Mata said the department also has to focus on retention. “If we could put in policies that would help retention of those senior officers to stay three to maybe five more years than they had planned to, that would help us in that five-year plan of catching up in hiring,” Mata said. “You’ve got to stop the bleeding.” The incentive could help do that. On average, officers stay at DPD for 28 years. The department is trying to extend that to 30. Any full-time officer with at least 28 years of sworn service with the depart- ment can apply for the incentive. Officers with 28 years or more of service will need to work an additional two years as a sworn full- time, active duty officer to be eligible for the one-time $40,000 payment. During those two years, officers will have to work 3,556 hours, which is the equivalent of 444 work days. If they don’t reach that number of hours by the end of the two years, even if their leave has been approved, they will have to continue working until they do. The only exception is if unavoidable or ex- traordinary circumstances kept an officer from completing the hours. Even then, the decision to grant the incentive despite these circumstances will be left to police Chief Eddie Garcia. To get the incentive, an officer must not be on paid administrative leave pending an investigation or fitness for duty evaluation for more than 10 days during the two-year period. An officer on paid administrative leave for more than 10 days can still earn the incentive by remaining employed for the full 24 months. This doesn’t include the days spent on administrative leave. To remain eligible, officers also can’t re- ceive any formal discipline, like termination, demotion or a suspension of more than five days. If an officer is disciplined but that dis- ciplinary action is reduced or reversed, the chief of police can choose to make restore eligibility for the program. The city’s Public Safety Committee will discussed the incentive last week with a view of implementing it some time this month. ▼ DRUGS MORE FENTANYL IN CARROLLTON ANOTHER ARREST AND AN ON- CAMPUS OVERDOSE AT R.L. TURNER HIGH SCHOOL. BY KELLY DEARMORE A student attending R.L. Turner High School was sent to a local hospital to recover after being found unre- sponsive inside the school on Feb. 3, accord- ing to a message Principal Adam Grinage sent to parents. “A student ingested a pill and as a result became unresponsive,” read the message obtained by the Observer from a parent in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Indepen- dent School District. “Our staff and emer- gency personnel immediately took action and provided medical assistance to the stu- dent. After administering Narcan, the stu- dent became responsive and was transported by ambulance to a local hospi- tal. The student was treated and will be re- leased later today.” Narcan is a nasal spray medication used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The type of pill the student took wasn’t named in the message, but the note did also say “there are multiple resources to assist in educating our students about the dangers of fentanyl on our fentanyl webpage on our district website.” That same day, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced the arrest of Donovan Jude Andrews, 20, who authorities say is “a Carrollton drug dealer who allegedly capitalized on the arrest of two prominent fentanyl traffickers to entice young buyers.” He has been charged with a federal drug crime, the announcement said. According to the U.S. Attorney, Andrews marketed M30 pills to teens at R.L. Turner High School and Hebron High School, also in Carrollton, via social media, announcing he was selling his pills for $10 apiece. The press release added that “according to the complaint, law enforcement concluded that Mr. Andrews allegedly dealt fentanyl to mi- nors knowing fully well that counterfeit M30 pills like the ones he was distributing were responsible for multiple overdoses and deaths.” M30 is a name for pills containing oxyco- done, a powerful painkiller. This is the fourth arrest in the past few weeks related to fentanyl dealing in the school district. In February, Luis Na- varrete, Magaly Cano and Jason Villan- ueva were arrested in connection with a fentanyl case that authorities say resulted in three deaths and seven overdoses of teen students in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. These developments come only two days after school officials announced a teacher had been fired from their position after an investigation revealed they had provided a student with an unnamed prescription med- ication. ▼ ZOO GOOD ZOO NEWS DALLAS ZOO WELCOMES (REALLY, REALLY BIG) BABY ELEPHANT. BY SIMONE CARTER T he first couple of months of 2023 were undeniably tough for the folks at Dallas Zoo: Multiple enclosures were vandalized, a clouded leopard got loose, a pair of monkeys was stolen and an old endangered vulture (who was a grandfa- ther!) was apparently killed. Last week we were relieved to see a zoo press release bear- ing decidedly good news. Dallas Zoo welcomed the birth of a 290-pound baby African elephant late last month. On Sunday, Feb. 26, the momma- phant, Mlilo, delivered the healthy-but- heavy gray prince. The zoo’s communications team noted in the release that the gestation time for ele- phants is a long one, spanning nearly two years — around 22 months. The elephant’s father, Tendaji, helped to reveal his son’s gender in a video posted to the zoo’s You- Tube page. The zoo also stated that it’ll be several weeks until the baby elephant (name still very much TBA) will be “on habitat,” but those curious about the little guy can check for updates on the zoo’s socials. Staff at the zoo monitored Mlilo closely throughout her pregnancy, the zoo an- nounced in a social media post on Wednesday. “We are very excited for Mlilo’s baby, and this has been a long time coming,” said Dr. Anne Burgdorf, the associate vice president of animal health and welfare at Dallas Zoo, in one video. Another zoologi- cal worker with the elephant department recalled how staff jumped up and down for joy after learning of Mlilo’s pregnancy in 2021. This isn’t Mlilo’s first rodeo, though. The zoo announced in 2016 she’d given birth to another not-so-little baby elephant named Ajabu, who even as a newborn rocked a shock of red hair. Dallas Zoo was hit with back-to-back- to-back difficult days earlier this year thanks to the aforementioned vandalism and animal theft. Eventually, Dallas Police arrested a 24-year-old man named Davion Dwight Irvin and charged him with sev- eral counts of animal cruelty and two counts of burglary of a building in connec- tion with the incidents. (He has not been charged in connection with the vulture’s apparent killing.) Irvin was apprehended after being seen at the Dallas World Aquarium, where he was scoping out another animal exhibit. In the days since the break-ins, the Dallas Zoo ramped up its security efforts, as did the Fort Worth Zoo. Dallas Zoo has previously come under fire for importing wild elephants. Back in 2018, one advocacy group ranked it as the No. 3 worst zoo for elephants in the entire U.S., CultureMap Dallas reported at the time. courtesy Dallas Zoo An African elephant was born at Dallas Zoo. Unfair Park from p8
