Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia shares keys to success and his future with DPD
DALLAS – If Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia is guilty of anything, it's having a plan. He says he landed in Dallas in 2021 from California with four goals in mind: reduce violent crime; increase morale in the department; develop community trust; and lastly, make sure his successor won't come from a search agency.
That last goal has already been reached. Last month, the people of Dallas spoke and city leaders listened, sealing a deal to keep Garcia with DPD for at least the next three years and promising to allow him to help decide who will be the next chief.
"I'm hopeful we'll be able to have a transition by then," he told CBS News Texas anchor Doug Dunbar. "The hope is that we'll be able to accomplish that and I'm confident that we will."
Garcia sat down with Dunbar and shared that this will be his last go around as a police chief. He said there are "several viable candidates" among his staff that he believes could follow in his footsteps.
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Garcia also told Dunbar what he thinks are the keys to his success in Dallas and where things can improve.
When it comes to his first goal of reducing violent crime, Garcia's leadership has led to a steady reduction. That's part of the reason why Dallas City Council, Mayor Eric Johnson and acting City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert all wanted him to stay as rumors circulated of Houston and Austin reportedly wanting to pull Garcia away last month.
The latest numbers from the National Incident-Based Reporting System show that as of June 2, 2024, aggravated assaults year-to-date have gone down 22.36% and murders in the city have gone down 26.05% year-to-date.
As to why Garcia's leadership is making a difference, he said it's something he has that many chiefs around the country do not.
"You don't necessarily have a relationship where the associations are in line with their command staff. You don't necessarily have associations where the PD is in line with the city manager, or in line with council or in line with the mayor or in line with the community, and we have that here," he explained. "It comes down to ... hard work."
And part of that hard work is to continue to make DPD a more appealing place to work for officers. Right now, there are 3,071 sworn staff with the department, which is 170 short of what is budgeted for this fiscal year.
"We need more officers to take some of the burden off of (existing officers)," Garcia said. "They are answering the call and answering the bell day in and day out. I have been there. I know the sacrifices that they make – our patrol officers, our specialized units – having to come in on holiday weekends. They don't get to barbecue, they don't get to hang out. They're here."
With ongoing staffing issues, technology may help. Dallas' Public Safety Committee recently approved a new program called Clearview AI, which is a facial recognition platform that can help narrow in on suspects of crimes faster. However, critics are afraid the technology might be used to go on criminal fishing expeditions. Garcia says that's not true.
"This tool will be an absolute reactive tool to crime. It is not going to be a proactive tool in the manner in which you just described," he said. "We will not have stationary cameras throughout the city, that is not what this will be."
The challenges for a police department never stop, but for the moment, Garcia has managed what many haven't; a growing trust from the City Council, the mayor, his own rank and file, and residents who are seeing the results.
He is staying, but the countdown clock is already ticking.
"We can't hold on to these jobs forever, and these positions forever," Garcia said. "I love what I do. It's incredibly difficult. It is a grind, a 24/7 grind, but you only do that because you really want to do that. At the same time, there needs to be a transition period so that the next leader of the department comes through."
