PLANO (1080 KRLD) - A Dallas police officer and employee with the Plano Police Department have both tested positive for the coronavirus, COVID-19. A total of 103 cases had been confirmed across North Texas through Thursday evening.
Dallas police say the officer works at Northeast Patrol Division. They say the officer is in isolation and recovering. Three coworkers who had been in close contact with the officer are also in isolation.
"Officers are out there on the street. They're doing their job, interacting with the public. There's no way out. It's going to happen," says Charley Wilkison, the executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas.
"There's a lack of information that's been trickled down to the rank-and-file," says Latino Law Enforcement Organization President George Aranda. "That's starting to be a huge concern for us."
Dallas police have given officers 3,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 6,000 pairs of gloves. They say they have brought in a cleaning company to sanitize the substation.
In Plano, six cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed. One of those cases is a Plano police employee.
Plano police say that employee appears to have contracted COVID-19 while on department travel to another state. They say other employees who were on the same trip have been scheduled for testing.
Police say the employee has been staying at home since last Friday, but they have not said whether the employee is an officer.
Plano police say they hired a cleaning company to sanitize the employee's workspace.
