Less than a year after stepping down as Dallas Police Chief, Eddie Garcia was sworn in as Fort Worth’s new Police Chief on Tuesday evening, with his first official day being Wednesday.
Garcia, 54, took the oath before a packed room at City Hall, where Fort Worth City Council members and Mayor Mattie Parker unanimously approved his appointment.
“We are so pleased that you want to be here in the city of Fort Worth,” Parker said, per Fort Worth Report. “This is an amazing department that you’re inheriting, but we’re hiring you because we know you can make it even better.”
In his remarks, Garcia emphasized his commitment to public safety and community trust.
“We are guardians of our community, protectors of the innocent, enemies of the wicked, and defenders of peace,” Garcia said, CBS News Texas reported.
“The badge we wear is not just a symbol of authority. It’s a promise, a promise to sacrifice, to serve with integrity, and put others before ourselves.”
Garcia’s appointment follows a six-month search prompted by the retirement of Chief Neil Noakes in May. Garcia was selected over finalists including Interim Chief Robert Alldredge, former Dallas Deputy Chief Vernon Hale III, and Los Angeles Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides, who withdrew her candidacy.
Garcia praised the Fort Worth Police Department and confirmed Alldredge would remain on his team, stating, according to CBS News, “I would be naive not to have someone who was a finalist for the great city of Fort Worth to not have as part of my team.”
Some city leaders called the hiring process into question after it came to light that Garcia had submitted his application past the cutoff date of June 4. He allegedly contacted the search firm the week of June 9 to express his interest in the position, and his name subsequently appeared on the list of finalists.
Rev. Kyev Tatum called the situation “a slap in the face to the integrity of the entire selection process,’ adding that it is “certainly unethical,” The Dallas Express reported at the time.
City Manager Jay Chapa asserted that late submissions are “not unusual” in executive searches, and Garcia’s application was accepted because the hiring process was still in the early screening stage, per Audacy.
At the swearing-in ceremony, Garcia outlined his priorities: reducing crime, boosting department morale, and building community trust.
“If on week one I see a better way to interact with our community, I’m going to implement it. I’m not going to wait 100 days,” he said, per CBS.
Garcia stressed the importance of morale, noting, “We’re not going to be able to do a thing if morale is low or if morale gets low.”
Addressing criminals, he added, “To the criminal element, know this: your actions will not go unchecked.”
Garcia, who previously led police departments in Dallas and San Jose, emphasized the value of his outside perspective.
“I may not have been homegrown here, but what I offer is looking at the experiences that I have learned in all those departments and looking from an outside lens of what other things can we do,” he said in a previous interview, per CBS.
Garcia will earn $306,000 annually, comparable to his Dallas salary of $306,440 but less than the $327,000 he earned as an assistant city manager in Austin, a role he took after leaving Dallas on November 1, 2024. Realizing his calling was police work, he returned to law enforcement.
Fort Worth will provide a $10,000 relocation fee, repayable in full if he leaves within a year or partially if within two years.
At the ceremony, Garcia’s son pinned a new badge on his uniform.
“As I was putting this uniform on today, I did get a little emotional because I was born to do this job, and this is my calling,” Garcia said, per FWR.
He emphasized that the community can expect visibility and accountability.
“Someone that knows that the police department needs to be transparent,” he said, CBS reported. “Someone that knows that we need to be visible, that I need to be visible. And so they can expect accountability, they can expect hard work.”