Dallas Police Analyst Wins Texas Gang Investigators Assocation Crime Analyst of the Year

One of the Dallas Police Department's own was named the 2026 Texas Gang Investigators Association Crime Analyst of the Year.

The department posted about the accomplishment on social media yesterday.

Fusion Senior Criminal Intelligence Analyst Laura Kennedy won the award.

The department said it shows Kennedy's "dedication in supporting gang investigations, not only within Dallas but across the State of Texas and beyond, has earned her the right of being TGIA Crime Analyst of the Year."

The master of ceremony for this year's event was Gov. Greg Abbott who presented the awards alongside TGIA leadership.

According to this National Network of Fusion Centers fact sheet, state and major urban area fusion centers serve as primary focal points within the state and local environment for the receipt, analysis, and sharing of threat-related information among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners.

These centers help empower front-line law enforcement, public safety, fire service, emergency response, public health, critical infrastructure protection, and private sector security personnel to lawfully gather and share threat-related information.

Fusion centers receive threat information from the federal government; analyze that information in the context of their local environment; disseminate that information to local agencies; and gather tips, leads, and suspicious activity reporting from local agencies and the public.