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Temple Mayor Tim Davis speaks on Michael Dean case

“The City of Temple, I believe, had an opportunity to step in and show more compassion toward the family and in my estimation, that’s where we dropped the ball."

TEMPLE, Texas —

It has been more than 2 weeks since 28-year-old Michael Dean was shot and killed by Temple Police Officer Carmen DeCruz.

RELATED: Officer-involved shooting: Breaking down the Micheal Dean killing

Mayor Tim Davis told 6 News, Temple wasn’t prepared for a case like this and that maybe the police aired too much on the side of precaution with the family.

“The City of Temple, I believe, had an opportunity to step in and show more compassion towards the family,” Davis said. “And in my estimation, that’s where we dropped the ball.”

Davis said the city handled the investigation correctly by having the Texas Rangers investigate as a third party. 

"The City of Temple handled that correctly in that you secure the scene and turn it over to the Texas Rangers," Davis said. 

In regards to preparedness, Davis said Temple has never had an incident like this case.  

RELATED: Temple man killed in officer-involved shooting gains national attention

"We didn't have a plan in place on how to effectively communicate with both the public and with the family as to what Mr. Dean," Davis said. 

He said a city the size of Temple should have something like that [a plan] in place.

"Going forward we will have something in place," Davis said. "Heaven forbid that something like this were to ever happen again. We will have better protocol and better plans in place."

RELATED: Temple NAACP protests TPD's response to deadly officer-involved shooting

According to Davis, in January the Temple City Council begin their planning for the coming year. The council outlines and prioritizes different aspects of their strategic plan. Davis said crisis management is included in that plan.

"I anticipate that, that item, will be moved up the list of to-do's," Davis said.

According to Davis, when emergency lights are turned on in every Temple PD cruiser, a system called Axon activates the dash cam and officer's body cam. 

RELATED: TPD officer accused of shooting man in head, killing him identified

It also sends a signal to any other officer’s cameras reporting to the scene. He said it is stored in a cloud system and the PD has no control over the information. Davis also addressed the idea that the case has been covered up.

RELATED: 'We expect justice': Dean family attorney asks for transparency after fatal officer-involved shooting

“The investigation is not based on rumor an investigation is based on evidence. That evidence is 100 percent secure and not accessible by anyone to allow for a cover-up.”

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