Both Houston and Austin interested in DPD Chief Garcia, sources say

DALLAS — The cities of Houston and Austin are expressing interest in potentially hiring Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia for the same role, sources told WFAA.

To keep Garcia, the city of Dallas may have to offer the police chief a contract, sources said. However, the Dallas city charter does not allow police chiefs to be under contract — and no chief before Garcia has been under contract in recent history.

Garcia, who was hired as chief in Dallas in 2021, is currently employed at-will under the city manager, meaning he could leave his position at any time.

Houston’s interest in Garcia becoming its police chief comes as city officials on Wednesday accepted the retirement of Chief Troy Finner.

Finner’s departure leaves an opening for a department that employs about 5,300 officers and more than 1,000 civilian staff. By comparison, the Dallas Police Department has about 3,200 officers and about 600 civilian employees.

Houston city officials have not yet named potential replacements for Finner, and Garcia is not commenting on any potential connections to him and the opening in Houston.

When reached for comment, the Houston Mayor’s Office provided WFAA with the following statement.

“Mayor (John) Whitmire wants to improve HPD, take the department out of the media headlines and refocus on public safety. He is confident that Acting Chief (Larry) Satterwhite will be a strong leader and it is too early to discuss that. the next steps in finding a new police chief.

Austin’s interest in Garcia comes because his lead role is also open since his previous chief, Joseph Chacon, retired in August, and because former Dallas City Manager TC Broadnax, who hired Garcia, is now city manager of the state capital. starting this week.

The Austin Police Department said it continues to operate under the watch of its interim police chief, Robin Henderson, and that no information on the process of hiring a permanent chief is yet available .

The Dallas Police Department also did not respond to WFAA’s inquiries about whether Garcia was applying for the chief position in these other Texas cities or staying in Dallas.

Garcia was named the new chief of the Dallas Police Department in late 2020 and was sworn in on February 3, 2021. He was hired after a tumultuous year of protests following the killing of George Floyd during an arrest by Minneapolis police officers . which led to the resignation of former Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall. Garcia was also the first Hispanic police chief to lead the DPD.

The city of Dallas hired Garcia to reduce violent crime, restore community trust and boost department morale. Violent crime in the city has been declining for three straight years and is currently at a six-year low.

Prior to his arrival in Dallas, Garcia served as chief of the San Jose Police Department from 2016 to 2020. He began his law enforcement career with the department in 1992.

Under Garcia, DPD launched a violent crime reduction plan, aiming to reduce crime in the city’s most violent neighborhoods after three years of growth. This strategy involved keeping police in hot spots – placing police in areas where violent crime is likely to occur, as well as disrupting criminal networks by sending officers to arrest habitual criminals and focusing on deterrence and the fight against urban blight by working with communities.

DPD also created the Crime Analysis Dashboard under Garcia, which allows the public to view crime-related data and response times around Dallas, as well as where crimes are occurring. Data was also made available on cases of officers using force in public, providing information on victims, officers, investigation results, and force used.

Less than six months into his term, Garcia apologized to Santos Rodriguez’s mother, 48 years after his death. Rodriguez, 12, was murdered by a Dallas police officer in 1973.

“I will not allow our department to forget. To improve, we must learn from the dark times of our past,” Garcia said at the time.

Garcia was also the first Dallas police chief to be named president of the Major City Chief’s Association, made up of leaders from the largest cities in the United States and Canada.

Last year, Garcia helped state lawmakers pass a law making it a crime to cut off an ankle monitor after two people were killed at a hospital by a suspect on parole who had cut off their monitor ankle twice.

Although Garcia has worked to increase officer strength, the DPD is still short about 800 officers. The department also struggled to improve response times. To achieve this, Garcia made certain non-urgent complaints required to be reported online.