The Office of Community Affairs was founded in 1987 to strengthen police-community relations in Dallas. The Office employs both sworn and non-sworn personnel. The unit's major objective is to build and maintain strong working relationships between the Dallas Police Department and Dallas communities.

The Office of Community Affairs collaborates with a wide variety of citywide stakeholders in order to implement the community-based collective approach to crime prevention and law enforcement. These stakeholders consist of business and non-profit partners, members of a variety of social and faith-based communities, and other components of the criminal  justice system.

The Office of Community Affairs works toward its goal of increasing community participation by hosting events that bridge the gap between community and first responders. T​​his is accomplished by providing residents with knowledge regarding safety and crime prevention, which, in turn, contributes to a reduction in crime through increased activism and awareness. Other ways in which the Office of Community Affairs contacts people of other ethnicities and nationalities and informs them about crime prevention, personal safety, and other police communications are through events that focus on multiculturalism and community engagement.

The Office of Community Affairs presents a number of unique events throughout the year. The  Annual Job Fairs, Back-to-School fairs, Community Forums, and Citizens Police Academies are examples of such gatherings. Because of these events, they are able to bring together a huge number of various Dallas Police Department units as well as a large number of community groups in order to provide unique participation opportunities.  The Dallas Police Department's community engagements, such as, summer youth safety seminars, and listening session events, have been extraordinarily successful in providing services, education, and empowerment to Dallas' residents.