{"id":168785,"date":"2025-08-23T09:19:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T09:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168785\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T09:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T09:19:14","slug":"eddie-garcia-to-start-as-fort-worths-chief-next-month-says-he-still-has-love-for-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168785\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Garc\u00eda to start as Fort Worth\u2019s chief next month, says he still has love for Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT WORTH \u2014 Eddie Garc\u00eda<\/a> stepped into view of the cameras in City Hall\u2019s lobby, his navy suit crisp, a pin of this city\u2019s trademark \u201cMolly\u201d longhorn gleaming on his lapel.<\/p>\n

The former Dallas police chief, who left<\/a> North Texas last year to trade his police uniform for a suit as Austin\u2019s assistant city manager overseeing public safety agencies, vowed at the Friday morning news conference to lead his new department\u2019s rank-and-file with integrity and accountability and work \u201ctirelessly\u201d on behalf of the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda\u2019s swift return to policing comes less than a year after he retired from the chief post in Dallas, where city leaders had fought<\/a> to keep him \u2014 even promising to keep him the highest-paid chief in Texas. He ultimately left for Austin to join former Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who had taken the top job at Austin City Hall months earlier.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Garc\u00eda acknowledged how some in Dallas could be puzzled by his return to lead a different agency in the same position he had held.<\/p>\n

Breaking News<\/p>\n

Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot tell you how incredibly grateful I am for the sacrifices of the men and women of the Dallas Police Department,\u201d he said, later adding, \u201cI know that there might be frustration, but I know in their hearts, they know that I love them as a department. I still do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are partners here in the D-FW area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Former Dallas police Chief Eddie Garc\u00eda is introduced as Fort Worth’s new police chief at Fort Worth City Hall<\/p>\n

\"FormerView GalleryRelated:What to know about Eddie Garc\u00eda, the ex-DPD chief who may come back to North Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda is expected to begin his role as police chief on Sept. 22, pending a City Council vote scheduled for Sept. 18, according to Sana Syed, a city spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Making his first public remarks since his appointment was announced Thursday, Garc\u00eda emphasized at the news conference he was committed to improving public safety, community engagement and growing the department. He said he would take a \u201cferocious\u201d approach to recruitment.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda led the Dallas police for about 3\u00bd years. Before that, he spent about 30 years with the San Jose Police Department, rising through its ranks before leaving as its chief. His appointment in Dallas made him the city\u2019s first Latino police chief.<\/p>\n

In that time, he built a national profile as a law enforcement leader, gaining attention for a focus on data-driven policing, community engagement and efforts to rebuild trust between officers and the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery resident in this city deserves to feel safe in their home, in their neighborhoods and our streets. You will be treated with dignity and respect by your police department,\u201d Garc\u00eda said during the news conference. \u201cWe will work to earn and maintain more trust every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda was selected from a pool of 50 other applicants, beating out two finalists: interim Chief Robert Alldredge, who has worked for 26 years at the Fort Worth Police Department, and Vernon Hale, a former Dallas deputy chief who led the Galveston Police Department and later served as an assistant chief in Maryland. <\/p>\n

A fourth finalist, Emada Tingirides, a deputy chief with the Los Angeles Police Department, withdrew after receiving a promotion.<\/p>\n

Fort Worth city leaders, including Mayor Mattie Parker and City Manager Jesus \u201cJay\u201d Chapa, who made the final selection, celebrated Garc\u00eda\u2019s hire and touted the process<\/a> that informed the decision.<\/p>\n

Parker described Garc\u00eda as a \u201ctested and proven\u201d leader with a record of building relationships with communities with transparency while also maintaining relationships with his officers.<\/p>\n

Parker and Chapa both thanked Alldredge, who was tapped to oversee the department as interim chief after the former chief, Neil Noakes, retired in May.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda said his rationale for leaving Dallas \u2014 which was partly informed by wanting to move closer to his son and newly born grandson \u2014 felt right at the time, but he began missing being more directly involved in leading a department.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Fort Worth police Chief Neil Noakes gives Fort Worth Community Engagement Unit Officer Tracy Darty a hug before new Fort Worth police Chief Eddie Garc\u00eda was introduced during a press conference at Fort Worth City Hall, August 22, 2025.\n<\/p>\n

Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Related:Fort Worth police Chief Neil Noakes to retire after 25 years with the department<\/a><\/p>\n

In Dallas, Garc\u00eda\u2019s base salary was bumped to $306,440 annually when reports surfaced he was being courted by Austin and Houston, both of which had interim leaders running their police departments. <\/p>\n

In Austin, he started with a base salary of $327,600, according to employment records obtained in a records request by The News.<\/p>\n

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, one of the city leaders who fought to keep Garc\u00eda in Dallas, tapped Chief Daniel Comeaux<\/a> to lead the department in April. <\/p>\n

Comeaux came to Dallas after most recently serving as the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s Houston Field Division.<\/p>\n

Syed declined to disclose Garc\u00eda\u2019s salary for the new role, saying the terms were being processed Friday and would be released at a later date.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda told The News he was eager to start in Fort Worth, describing it as one of the \u201cmost supportive\u201d cities for police officers in the country. He said the opening left by Noakes felt like the \u201cstars aligned,\u201d an opportunity too good to pass up.<\/p>\n

And though his time as Austin\u2019s assistant city manager was brief, Garc\u00eda said he was \u201cincredibly grateful\u201d for the time there and was walking away with experiences that would make him a more effective police chief in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d he explained, \u201cI feel that I have more to give the law enforcement profession. I wanted to come back. And so I\u2019m just honored that they had me back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT WORTH \u2014 Eddie Garc\u00eda stepped into view of the cameras in City Hall\u2019s lobby, his navy suit…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":168786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,347,1596,14842,47193,7371,5292,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-168785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-police","12":"tag-eddie-garcia","13":"tag-fort-worth","14":"tag-public-safety","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115077340810601655","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}