Garcia said he planned to retire in June after nearly 30 years on the San Jose force but stayed longer after the same challenges Dallas was facing at the time from George Floyd protests and COVID-19.
The Dallas Police Chief opening came up in September when U. Renee Hall announced her resignation. Garcia said the Dallas post was the one challenge that could extend his career. Cassandra Jaramillo with The Dallas Morning News joins NBC 5 to take a closer look at Dallas’ new police chief, Eddie Garcia, and some of the challenges and key priorities he faces.
“The opportunity in Dallas was exciting. I don t feel a better connection to any major city in the country as I do for Dallas,” he said.
Eddie Garcia
City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced Wednesday that Garcia will become the city s 30th chief of police and the first Latino to lead the department.
Dallas has selected a new police chief.
Eddie Garcia comes from the San José Police Department, where he started in 1992 and has served as chief since 2016.
“My story began as a young boy moving to a new city, learning to speak English in a community that promoted me to Chief. It’s an honor to be welcomed into one of America’s greatest cities for the second time as Chief,” Garcia said in a statement.
Garcia becomes the first Latino to lead the ninth largest police force in the country.
By Peter Simek
Published in
FrontBurner
December 23, 2020
3:05 pm
City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced today that he has chosen Eddie Garcia to be the 30th chief of the Dallas Police Department. Garcia has been the chief of the San Jose Police Department since 2016, and he will become the first Latino to lead Dallas’ police force. Garcia’s tenure in San Jose was marked by his efforts to improve the department’s relationship with the Spanish-speaking community by adding basic Spanish to the police academy curriculum, launching a Spanish language Facebook page, and increasing minority recruiting. In a release, Garcia mentions how he only spoke Spanish when he moved to San Jose as a child and eventually grew up to become that city’s top cop.
Dallas’ new police chief will be Eddie Garcia, the first Latino to lead the department
The retired San Jose, Calif., police chief was chosen to lead the department after Chief U. Reneé Hall announced she was leaving at the end of the year.
A portrait of San Jose police chief Eddie Garcia in his office in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020.(Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
Even before he retired in California as San Jose police chief, Edgardo “Eddie” Garcia had already set his sights on Dallas.
On the cusp of turning 50 this month, Garcia, a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, had visited the city several times. So when the police chief job became available here, he jumped at the chance to fulfill a dream.