Dallas Police Department

John Wiley Price pumps iron. He drives a Lotus. He is a Dallas County commissioner. He is black. He is angry. And he is the man who has brought the simmering racial tension in this city to near-boiling. Say what you will about John Wiley Price, there is no halfway about him. He has a radical's mind and a showman's disposition, a flare for just the right quote to get him on the evening news and in the morning papers.

A former policeman accused of trying to have Cowboy receiver Michael Irvin murdered has agreed to a plea bargain calling for a six-year prison sentence, a source close to the case said Thursday. Johnnie Hernandez, 28, will plead guilty to solicitation of murder and an unrelated bribery charge, the source said on condition of anonymity. Hernandez, whose trial was scheduled to begin Monday, could have received up to 99 years on the murder solicitation charge.

The prospect of Daryl F. Gates stepping aside because of the furor over the Rodney G. King beating has produced a veritable Who's Who of law enforcement officials as possible successors. A key to the debate will be whether to adhere to tradition and hire a chief from within the Los Angeles Police Deparment--or at least an alumnus of the department.

Nearly four months after Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Michael Irvin was arrested in an Irving, Texas, motel room in the company of cocaine, marijuana and two topless dancers, the standout offensive star found himself in the center of a twist in the case that could only be called bizarre. A Dallas police officer subpoenaed to testify in Irvin's drug possession trial was arrested Thursday after trying to hire a hit man to kill the Cowboy receiver, police Chief Ben Click said.

A former policeman accused of trying to have Cowboy receiver Michael Irvin murdered has agreed to a plea bargain calling for a six-year prison sentence, a source close to the case said Thursday. Johnnie Hernandez, 28, will plead guilty to solicitation of murder and an unrelated bribery charge, the source said on condition of anonymity. Hernandez, whose trial was scheduled to begin Monday, could have received up to 99 years on the murder solicitation charge.

William Rathburn, a Los Angeles deputy chief who coordinated security measures for the 1984 Olympics and has been one of the Police Department's most successful anti-gang crime fighters, was named chief of police Friday in Dallas. His departure, after a 27-year Los Angeles Police Department career in which he was considered a potential successor to Chief Daryl F.

Nearly four months after Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Michael Irvin was arrested in an Irving, Texas, motel room in the company of cocaine, marijuana and two topless dancers, the standout offensive star found himself in the center of a twist in the case that could only be called bizarre. A Dallas police officer subpoenaed to testify in Irvin's drug possession trial was arrested Thursday after trying to hire a hit man to kill the Cowboy receiver, police Chief Ben Click said.

A man apparently shot himself to death on the "X" in Dallas' Dealey Plaza that marks the spot where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 40 years ago, authorities said. Witnesses said they saw a man in a camouflage jacket holding a gun on his chest and lying in the middle of the street on the spray-painted "X," an unofficial memorial maintained by the publisher of a local conspiracy theory publication. A witness said it initially appeared that the man had been struck by a vehicle.

A Ku Klux Klan protest of the Dallas Police Department's new affirmative action hiring plan turned into a melee when an anti-klan group charged the demonstrators. Police clubbed members of the crowd, estimated at about 200, and some protesters suffered minor injuries in the one-hour confrontation, authorities said. Eight people were arrested on minor charges.

The prospect of Daryl F. Gates stepping aside because of the furor over the Rodney G. King beating has produced a veritable Who's Who of law enforcement officials as possible successors. A key to the debate will be whether to adhere to tradition and hire a chief from within the Los Angeles Police Deparment--or at least an alumnus of the department.

William Rathburn, a Los Angeles deputy chief who coordinated security measures for the 1984 Olympics and has been one of the Police Department's most successful anti-gang crime fighters, was named chief of police Friday in Dallas. His departure, after a 27-year Los Angeles Police Department career in which he was considered a potential successor to Chief Daryl F.

John Wiley Price pumps iron. He drives a Lotus. He is a Dallas County commissioner. He is black. He is angry. And he is the man who has brought the simmering racial tension in this city to near-boiling. Say what you will about John Wiley Price, there is no halfway about him. He has a radical's mind and a showman's disposition, a flare for just the right quote to get him on the evening news and in the morning papers.

Deputy Los Angeles Police Chief William Rathburn, who earlier this month emerged as one of nine finalists to head the 2,400-officer Dallas Police Department, will be staying in Los Angeles. Dallas officials Tuesday selected Mack M. Vines, the police chief in Cape Coral, Fla., to head their department, and it came as a relief to Rathburn's colleagues.

When a suburban Dallas couple found a bag containing almost $300,000 and a handgun two months ago, they say they didn't hesitate to turn the bundle over to police. Because no one came forward to claim the cash, the couple expected to get it back. But the police say finders-keepers doesn't apply. "The [Drug Enforcement Administration] determined this is drug money," said Sgt. Hollis Edwards, a spokesman for the Dallas Police Department. "It is not the same thing as finding a wallet."