Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia isn’t going anywhere. He and the city confirmed the news Thursday. There had been speculation that Houston or Austin might try to lure Garcia away.
Days after Dallas City Hall leaders say they'll do anything to keep Police Chief Eddie Garcia as the city's top cop, the City Council reached a deal to keep him in Dallas for several more years.
Garcia himself confirmed the information with a post on X reading simply: "Home = @DallasPD."
Last week rumors started swirling that Houston and Austin might be courting Garcia.
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Interim Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said the negotiation was complicated in a city press release.
"If this was NFL Football, we were able to keep Chief Garcia on the Dallas Team; he's the right quarterback to lead our police department. We certainly didn't want to lose him to free agency."
According to the news release, Garcia is committing to stay in Dallas until at least May 2027.
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Garcia weighed in on the negotiation saying in the news release: "To live and work in Dallas is to love Dallas. This is the right place to complete my service, and I know your police officers are honored to serve Dallas residents. We will keep doing our jobs with excellence and results."
Garcia's salary remains $306,440 -- however, beginning in November, and every six months after, he'll receive a retention bonus of $10,000.
The deal goes on to cover early termination as well as a transition plan when Garcia decides to leave.
Community leaders react to Chief Garcia extension
“I’m very excited,” said longtime Dallas community leader Rene Martinez. “I really didn’t think he was going to leave us.”
Martinez, an educator and national LULAC leader, has worked with around 10 DPD chiefs since the 1970s.
He and Garcia meet for lunch once a month to listen to the needs of the community.
“He’s a people person,” said Martinez. “He hit the ground running, talking to all elements of the community. Of course, he’s the first Latino in the department’s history. He’s bilingual and he connects with 40-45% of the community very effectively.”
NBC 5 asked Jaime Castro, president of the Dallas Police Association, the largest union representing Dallas police officers, what makes Garcia so successful for DPD and the city.
“He came to the department when we were in need of a leader,” said Castro. “We were lacking a true leader, someone that the troops look up to, someone they could trust and believe that their chief had their back.”
The boost in morale, he says, goes hand in hand with better job performance.
Castro confirms he knew the Houston Police Department expressed interest in Garcia.
He had not spoken with anyone with Austin PD.
Castro had a brief meeting with Garcia following the city’s announcement on Thursday.
“It’s what the city deserves and it’s plain and simple, the city deserves America’s best,” he said.
Asked if he thinks Garcia would have left had the city of Dallas not presented a new agreement, Castro says he couldn’t comment because he never spoke with Garcia about it.
City council member Paula Blackmon applauds the parties involved for finding a ‘creative’ solution to keep a key employee who’s led the charge in crime prevention.
“I think it goes with his plan of his crime reduction for three more years,” said Blackmon. “We’ve seen significant drops in our violent crime, and I believe he’s committed that it continues to go down and stay down.”
With Garcia’s immediate future now known, Martinez is impressed with Garcia’s approach to crime.
“He uses analytics and data to address some of the attacks on crime and he’s been very successful,” said Martinez. “His strategy has been to look at hot spots and those hot spots move and when they move, he redeploys. Crime doesn’t stay still so that’s his biggest challenge.”
