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FORT WORTH, Texas – Less than a year after leaving the Dallas Police Department, Eddie Garcia has been named a finalist to become the next police chief in Fort Worth, sources confirm to FOX 4.
Eddie Garcia 
FULL INTERVIEW: Chief Eddie Garcia on leaving Dallas
Dallas police chief Eddie Garcia shocked city leaders and members of his department by announcing his retirement from policing. Garcia is starting a new job as an assistant city manager over public safety in Austin next month. He sat down with FOX 4’s Steven Dial to talk about his time in Dallas and his biggest regrets.
The backstory:
Garcia was the chief of the Dallas Police Department from 2021 until October 2024.
He retired from his role in Dallas to take an assistant city manager role in Austin overseeing the city’s public safety. The decision came just four months after Garcia announced that he had reached an agreement with the city that would keep him in Dallas into 2027.
During Garcia’s time in Dallas, city leaders credited him with reducing crime and improving morale in the department.
When he left DPD, Garcia told FOX 4 he wanted to be able to be in a position with better work-life balance.
“I’ve been sprinting for a while, and it would have been 33 years in February. My kids played a big role in it. They are young adults, and they are going to start families of their own and I want to be present. I wanted something with balance, because there is no balance in this job. There is no balance, that’s not a word a police chief should utter in this job because there isn’t. If you can find something to work hard at while able to find balance, that’s something I was ready for in my next chapter,” Garcia explained.
Prior to arriving in Dallas, Garcia served as San Jose’s police chief from 2016 to 2021.
Fort Worth Police Chief Search
Fort Worth has been searching for a police chief since Neil Noakes retired from the job in May.
What they’re saying:
At a community vigil for Central Texas flooding victims on Monday, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker did not share any names, but did say the list of finalists will be released on Tuesday.
“I’m tremendously proud of the city management team that’s led an excellent search process. We had a tremendous number of candidates, which bodes well for our city, the best police department in the country, in my opinion, of course,” said Parker.
The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX 4 sources, past reporting on Eddie Garcia and comments made by Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker on Monday night.
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