Crime & Safety
What's Behind the Dallas Police Row Over Corn Rows?
Does a hairstyle say anything about professionalism on the job? One Dallas police officer's pushback provides more questions than answers.
DALLAS, TX — In the words of the late Aretha Franklin, "Let's call this song exactly what it is."
Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police Department (DART) officer Dakari Davis has gone public about the rescinded letter of reprimand that nearly got him fired for wearing his hair braided into corn rows while in uniform.
Yes, the vindictation is welcome. But, as Davis wisely asks, if you carry bias toward a coworker you actually know because of something as inconsequential as hairstyle, what does that say about how you deal with people in the community whom you've never met?
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Does their hairstyle transmit something about them? What about their clothes or what they drive? And most importantly, where do those judgements lead, and what do they cause?
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In his own defense, the Black police officer told WFAA he believed his coworkers “shouldn’t judge me based on my appearance,” and that they “know my character, you know my heart.”
His plea makes perfect sense. But, in all deference to the officer, it's also wrong. Why should anyone have to beseech colleagues not to be prejudiced?
Davis has been a DART police force member since 2019, and his six years in law enforcement passed without incident until a lieutenant took exception to Davis' grooming. According to Davis, "he felt that it was unprofessional for male police officers to wear corn rows and contacted the Chief of Police and eventually filed a formal complaint against my hairstyle."
Subsequently, Davis received orders in July 2019 not to wear his corn rows in uniform — an order he violated at an awards ceremony conducted by DART months later. By November, a full-fledged "investigation" (what's to investigate?) concluded that the officer's 'do was a don't.
The official finding: Davis' hair was found guilty of being "unapproved" and "unprofessional" — which is a lot of power to grant inanimate hair.
Ultimately, the offending corn rows wound up getting Davis into formal disciplinary trouble, including violation of dress code, disobeying a superior's direct orders, and that old chestnut, "insubordination," which quite literally means the inability to put yourself below someone else.
Davis soon found himself with an official letter of reprimand on paid administrative leave with a recommendation that he be terminated — because of the way he wore his hair. Not because it interfered with his job performance, or that it caused some kind of mishap.
Let's call this song exactly what it is. If this kind of overreaction happens regarding an officer with an otherwise unblemished record who coworkers knew and could trust, what does it say about officers walking into a community where such grooming is commonplace?
As a family man with a wife and child, Davis said he was depressed and considered cutting his hair just to see the matter disappear and move on. Eventually, he brought the matter to John Wiley Price, the Dallas County Commissioner who took up the officer's cause.
Finally last September, Carol Wise called an end to the tune. As CEO of DART, she sent a notice to the Chief of Police which resulted in rescinding Davis' reprimand. Officer Davis has since been reinstated without restrictions to his duty as a DART motorcycle officer.
And, as a coda: Gordon Shattles, DART's Director of External Relations, has said the department's policy regarding appearance is now under review.
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