Dallas City Council to hear updated police academy proposals
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The Dallas Police Department's headquarters is much nicer than its current academy in a southern Dallas warehouse. Photo: Stewart F. House/Getty Images
The Dallas Police Department needs a new academy to train the hundreds of recruits it's supposed to hire in the next few years — but what that training facility will look like is still up for debate.
Why it matters: A state-of-the-art law enforcement training facility is a key component in the city's plans to recruit more police officers.
- Dallas voters approved a proposition in November that requires the city to employ at least 4,000 officers. There are currently nearly 3,160 officers.
The latest: Dallas Hero, the nonprofit behind the ballot initiative, sent a legal notice Monday to the mayor and City Council saying the city has until May 30 to comply with Proposition U.
- Meanwhile, council members will be briefed Wednesday on modified plans that will put a training center at the Dallas campus of the University of North Texas and a public safety complex elsewhere.
Context: The city aims to hire 250 officers this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. So far, the city has hired 100 officers, and 65 officers have retired or left the department.
Flashback: Dallas voters passed a bond package last May that included $50 million to pay for building a police academy.
- The bond money, $20 million in state grants, and $10 million from the Communities Foundation of Texas are tied to the academy's being located at the university.
Yes, but: City leaders in February said there's not enough space at UNT-Dallas to fulfill training needs, such as having an outdoor gun range and driving course.
- Council members told city staff during a March briefing that the goal was to guarantee police recruits would train at the college campus. City staff later sent a memo saying recruits would start in classrooms at UNT-Dallas.
What's next: Council will see updated academy plans Wednesday that would keep training for new officers at UNT-Dallas. The proposal includes a physical training center and running track, an outdoor training course, the basic academy with reality-based training, and an in-service training area for current officers.
- City staff are proposing also building a public safety complex on 60 acres elsewhere that would include a firearms training facility, a driving course for emergency vehicle training, and a Dallas Fire-Rescue teaching area.
Meanwhile: City Manager Kim Bizor Tolbert is scheduled to interview finalists Wednesday for the police chief job.
- The next chief will adopt a department facing a state probe into how it enforces immigration laws.