Meet Andrew Acord, Northeast Police Division Deputy Chief

The Dallas Police Department last spring reassigned Deputy Chief Andrew Acord as commander of the Northeast Police Division, which patrols the White Rock area. Before the move, Acord oversaw the Dallas Police Narcotics Division. During his first week at the northeast substation, two major manhunts launched in the White Rock area — one, for the perpetrators of a violent murder of an elderly homeowner in the Dixon Branch area and the other for a serial rapist in the Lake Highlands area. Arrests were relatively quickly made in both cases. Acord shared with us some insights and highlights from his three decades on the force.

The first few weeks

After the immediate chaos settled, it became a joke of sorts because the staff originally had told me that it was a good place to work, that things were relatively routine around here. Not too much action. But the work came fast and didn’t let up for the first month or six weeks or so.

Catching the suspects

In the case of the sexual assailant, we felt confident that he was still in the area. We had some very capable people working the case — several different police divisions — and we had the cooperation of the citizens. There was a sense of urgency, wanting to protect the community from further assault, so there was a confidence there. There was a different dynamic to the homicide case. For one, of course the homicide unit oversaw the investigation, though we did put resources into that investigation.

Social media and police work

Social media is beneficial in two major ways. It allows us to push out information quickly. [Suspects in the Dixon Branch homicide were apprehended following both a socialmedia based call for information and a YouTube video showing the suspects using the victim’s credit card]. It also allows us to share with the public about various accomplishments of the police department.

The early years

Since high school I knew I wanted to go into law enforcement. I grew up in Houston, attended Sam Houston University and planned to join the Houston Police Department. But then I met my wife. She lived in Richardson. So I followed her here.

Law enforcement because ...

I didn’t want to be behind a desk and I wanted to positively impact the community.

Jobs in the DPD

In 33 years I’ve worked patrol in the southeast division, communications, SWAT, which wasn’t called SWAT then but the tactical division — it was before Dallas SWAT was famous — internal affairs, then narcotics.

On the AMC show “Breaking Bad”

I haven’t seen the show, but I’ll check it out. As for the real-life job in narcotics, the office consisted of disrupting and dismantling drug traffic, at all levels. It was challenging work because Dallas is a hub for distribution.

Why so many di erent positions

It is typical for us to move around from department to department. I think it is so that we are more experienced and well rounded.

On chasing perps

It has been a long time since I’ve been involved in a chase, since I was on patrol, which was back in ’87. The chase wound up at LBJ and Skillman. The suspect got out of the vehicle near there and we chased him on foot. Caught him coming out of a manhole cover behind Tom Thumb.

On handling northeast Dallas’ high-crime hotspots

This is a large and diverse area. Larger than most surrounding suburbs — it’s an 86-square-mile area with a population of 286,000.

With several multifamily properties it presents more challenging crime areas, but this is an exceptional police division here. This area also has, I believe, more active crime watch and homeowners groups working with police than any other. We are initiating programs with cooperative apartment managers and residents to combat and prevent crime by forming crime watch groups within those communities.

—Christina Hughes Babb Acord’sstatementswereeditedforbrevity.

It’s a cat’s life

Professionally painted murals line long interior walls. An enclosed patio for lounging surrounds the structure.

Bedrooms might include televisions, Oriental rugs, chandeliers and repurposed Victorian-era wood and doors. The campus includes state-of-the-art medical facilities and, out back, an herb farm.

And it’s all for cats.

If you’ve ever patronized the Northwest Highway East Lake Veterinary Hospital, founded by Dr. Karen Fling, you know she and her staffers exceed expectations when it comes to pet care.

Not only have they treated and rehomed thousands of animals that otherwise might have been euthanized, but they also pamper pets, appointing adoption and recovery rooms with comfy beds and televisions, for example.

Cats conceivably are more impressed with this sort of mollycoddling. As Fling puts it, “Cats have much different needs — they are not small dogs.”

Many families are mixed — cats and dogs — and they are still welcome at East Lake, but Fling says that “for cats from catonly households, a visit to a busy vet can be traumatizing in itself.”

That’s why she hopes to open the cat clinic — an orange and cream-colored building (East Lake’s signature colors) at the corner of Shoreview, just behind East Lake — by year’s end.

The cat clinic will be peaceful, “Zenlike,” Fling says. Exam rooms will be comfortable, and the porch will be closed in so the cats can relax out there.

Fling has purchased the land behind the cat clinic, now an empty lot, where she plans to put a catnip farm. That’s right — she says she already has plans under way to grow organic nepeta cataria, the mintlike herb that is said to be a feline aphrodisiac. It also is common for humans to consume this herb, by the way, in the form of tea, and Fling says she knows chefs who have experimented with catnip in cooking.

—Christina Hughes Babb

Destination: Dallas Marathon

Melting in the Texas summer might sound unpleasant, but if running the December Dallas Marathon is on your bucket list, it’s time to get in gear.

Registration opened in June and is steadily filling. Early entrants get a better price. Plus, registration for the marathon will close at 6,000, and the half marathon will be limited to 13,000 runners. With a team of five, you can opt to register for the relay race: Each member runs an average six miles of the marathon course, which winds through Downtown, Oak Cliff, Highland Park, the White Rock area and East Dallas.

Once you’ve registered for your preferred event and outfitted yourself in a good pair of athletic shoes, some experienced Dallas marathoners say joining a running group is the best way to meet your marathon or half-marathon goals. The specific benefits? “Accountability, motivation, friendly competition and knowledge transfer,” sums up White Rock-area runner Nick Polito.

White Rock area resident Kevin Roberts adds that running with friends is fun, which makes him want to run more. “What Nick said, along with the after-run festivities,” Roberts says. “I doubt my annual mileage would be half of what it is without the group.”

Polito and Roberts belong to the White Rock Running Co-op, a free club with a loosely organized marathon-training program that meets twice a week, usually in the White Rock area.

The Dallas Running Club, based in East Dallas, also offers a low-cost training program for which runners can register through July.

Sometimes training alone is more convenient, says Dallas Running Club member Teel Tishgart, a marathoner and mother of twins, “but I so much look forward to meeting up with friends and meeting other people who are as committed as I am.”

—Christina Hughes Babb LEARN MORE:

Visit thewrrc.com to download a marathontraining plan. Visit dallasrunningclub.com for membership information. Find both groups on Facebook for meet-ups, routes, discussions and running-gear discounts.