City Council Member Paula Blackmon is among the most outspoken Council critics of a citizen-led petition to bolster the Dallas Police Department’s staffing and resources — yet she expressed an evolving level of shock over the recent abrupt retirement of Chief Eddie Garcia.
“I mean, I am surprised at the move,” she told CBS Texas program “Eye on Politics.”
But Blackmon told KERA she was not surprised Garcia is moving on from Dallas. She insisted, however, she was stunned Garcia is heading to Austin to be an assistant city manager under T. C. Broadnax, the former Dallas city manager who resigned to take the same post in Austin.
“I was not blindsided in the career choice, I was blindsided in where [Garcia] went,” Blackmon, who represents District 9, told KERA.
She also expressed concern over how the news of Garcia’s move was revealed, spilling out from Austin after Broadnax sent a memo to that city’s leadership announcing Garcia was coming aboard.
“I mean, we get a memo from Austin, and I guess there hadn’t been communication back here in Dallas,” Blackmon told KERA. “That was a little alarming.”
Just hours earlier, Blackmon took interim City Manager Kim Tolbert to task over Garcia’s departure. Many Dallas leaders learned of Garcia’s news from reporters who had learned of Broadnax’s memo to Austin leaders.
“The news to the council should have first come from Tolbert,” Blackmon told the Dallas Morning News. “She works for us. He works for her.”
In the CBS Texas’ “Eye on Politics” program, Blackmon reavealed: “I am not surprised because I know that Chief Garcia wanted to get into management for his last part of his career.”
“So I applaud him for that,” she added.
As chief of the Dallas Police Department for nearly four years, Garcia serves as the top executive within DPD’s management structure. He assumes his new role in Austin in November.
Garcia’s sudden departure comes shortly after Blackmon and a handful of other Council members appeared to engage in some fearmongering during Dallas City Council discussions over a charter amendment proposition that, if approved by voters, would increase the number of officers fielded by the Dallas Police Department.
The proposition in question was one put forward by the nonprofit Dallas HERO, which got enough signatures from residents to put the measure on the ballot. Petition signatories registered their support for an amendment to the Dallas City Charter that would make DPD pay competitive, require the City to maintain at least 4,000 peace officers, and compel officials to shore up the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System.
Only around 3,000 officers are currently in the field, despite a prior City analysis advising that a force of roughly 4,000 is needed to properly police a jurisdiction the size of Dallas.
Meanwhile, the Dallas City Council approved a budget of only $654 million for DPD this fiscal year, which is considerably less taxpayer money than police departments are budgeted in other high-crime cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.