Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia Leaving for Austin Job

Police Chief Eddie Garcia plans to retire from the Dallas Police Department after three-and-a-half years in the role, The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday. According to the News, Garcia is leaving the front lines of law enforcement for Austin, where he will be an assistant city manager overseeing the city's public safety.

The announcement is sure to sting City Hall, as Garcia appears to be following former Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who assumed Austin's city manager seat in May. Broadnax resigned from the role in Dallas just as the City Council appeared ready to fire him. Broadnax's relationship with Mayor Eric Johnson was a strained one, but Garcia has spoken positively about both leaders.

There is no word on when Garcia’s final day as head of the department will be. The Observer has reached out to the Dallas Police Department for further information. In a statement posted on X, Broadnax wrote that Garcia will assume the job in Austin on Nov. 4.

Garcia will oversee Austin fire and police as well as Austin/Travis County emergency medical services, Downtown Austin Community Court, forensic science and homeland security and emergency management, Broadnax stated.

In a memo to police personnel, Garcia said that he had not intended for news of his departure to come out just yet.

"After much reflection and consideration, I have made the difficult decision to retire from my career in law enforcement," Garcia wrote. "This has not been an easy choice, as my time in service has been deeply meaningful and fulfilling. For many years, I have been honored to protect and serve the community, standing alongside brave men and women who dedicate their lives to ensuring the safety and well being of others."

His statement made no mention of his plans to take the job in Austin.

Garcia seemed to signal his intent to stick with Dallas for the long term just four months ago, after several other Texas cities, including Austin, expressed interest in poaching the chief. At the time, interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert announced that Garcia had committed to staying in Dallas through mid-2027 after an addendum was added to his offer letter guaranteeing retention bonuses and financial packages in the event of his firing.

By voluntarily resigning, Garcia will not receive those bonuses.

“If this was NFL Football, we were able to keep Chief García 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,” Tolbert said at the time the deal was made.

In a joint statement sent via email, Mayor Johnson and Tolbert praised Garcia's leadership and noted that the city has seen three years of declining violent crime and improved morale among police.

"While we are sorry to see him go, we also know that big city police chiefs never stick around forever," they wrote. "We are fortunate to have had a capable, committed, experienced, and innovative police chief these last three and a half years. We wish him the best of luck on his next journey."

District 9 council member Paula Blackmon also praised Garcia and said she regretted his leaving, particularly as Dallas voters prepare to cast ballots on three proposed charter amendments that would require the city to greatly expand the size of the police force, link the city manager's pay and job to a community survey and waive the city government's immunity if residents sue. The proposals, backed by a group calling itself Dallas HERO, are a threat to the city's budget and management, some officials believe, and Blackmon blamed them for driving Garcia away.

The requirement to increase the number of officers, she wrote, would "hamstring our Police Chief with hiring 900 officers in the next year — an unrealistic and arbitrary number — and will put the city in financial chaos. I have been an advocate of public safety by providing the funding for our police department. This council has been deeply committed to hiring and retaining quality officers at DPD and these so-called HERO Propositions would jeopardize our ability to recruit, retain and train top talent including a police chief.

"I am concerned that this effort, led by non-Dallas residents, has run off the best police chief in the nation and this is only the beginning of many more top quality staff to leave the City of Dallas." 

In his own statement, District 7 council member Adam Bazaldua said much the same.

"Chief Garcia has been outspoken about the fact that should these propositions pass, they would debilitate our city and require an unsustainable hiring mandate that the police department cannot keep up with, and could reduce the quality of officers we attract," he wrote. "With an anticipated $175 million price tag on just this one proposition, the consequences to the city’s financial health could be huge."

Garcia’s tenure as chief was preceded by U. Reneé Hall, who also lasted three years in the role. Garcia's hiring, along with the positive reputation he garnered at City Hall, was a shift from Hall’s term, which was marred by the city's violent crime rate and the handling of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.