Dallas Police Department sworn staffing totaled 3,443 Thursday morning, leaving the city 557 officers short of the 4,000-officer minimum Dallas voters approved two years ago under Proposition U, the police department confirmed Friday to The Dallas Express.
The updated count comes as police investigate three November 1 shootings in Deep Ellum that left four people dead and 15 injured. Police have arrested suspects in two of the shootings and are seeking help identifying three persons of interest in the third.
Dallas Police Confirms Latest Staffing
“As of yesterday morning, our sworn staffing totaled 3,443. The dashboard numbers were correct; since then, 10 officers left the department, and we started an academy class with 31,” Dallas Police Senior Public Information Officer Corbin Rubinson said in a November 13 email to The Dallas Express.
The latest total is 16 higher than the 3,427 sworn officers recorded October 27 in a city hiring and attrition memorandum, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. It remains four below the department’s reported September 30 total of 3,447.
Dallas hired 378 sworn officers during fiscal 2025–2026, exceeding its target of 350, according to a city year-end report.
What Proposition U Requires
Dallas voters approved Proposition U on November 5, 2024. The measure added public safety funding priorities to the city charter, including increasing full-time sworn police staffing to at least 4,000 and maintaining or increasing the officer-to-resident ratio established when the amendment passed.
The charter directs the city to appropriate at least 50% of qualifying year-over-year revenue growth toward the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, with remaining money from that allocation directed to public safety objectives. Those objectives include police staffing and bringing starting combined salary and non-pension benefits into the top five among qualifying police departments in the region.
The amendment does not specify a deadline for initially reaching 4,000 officers.
Deep Ellum Investigation Continues
Dallas police announced November 10 that detectives were seeking three persons of interest seen on surveillance video leaving the scene shortly after the fatal shooting of Isaiah Boling, 20, in the 2600 block of Elm Street. Officers found Boling unresponsive at approximately 12:19 a.m. November 1. He later died at a hospital. The request was also covered by The Dallas Express.
A November 9 city memorandum described advance police deployment but did not provide a headcount, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. At the Public Safety Committee meeting that day, Deputy Chief Devon Palk said 58 officers were assigned to Deep Ellum, including 11 hired by the Deep Ellum Foundation, NBC 5 reported.
The citywide staffing gap does not establish whether additional officers would have prevented the shootings. Council Member Cara Mendelsohn had called for a review of police preparations, as The Dallas Express reported November 1.
Police arrested Justin Murdock, 18, on November 10 in connection with the South Crowdus Street shooting that killed three people. Chief Daniel Comeaux announced the arrest Thursday, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Murdock faces a charge of capital murder of multiple persons. Police previously arrested David Yancy in connection with the Main Street shooting. Both are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
