Police Chief Search
The following is adapted from my email newsletter. To subscribe, click here.
You probably remember that more than four years ago, Dallas was searching for a new police chief.
Back then, Dallas was experiencing an unacceptable spike in violent crime. The previous police leadership offered no real solutions or answers, and a change in approach was overdue.
In December 2020, I sent you a newsletter advocating for the city to find “an effective communicator with a buck-stops-here mentality,” adding that the “chief should take it personally that crime is up in Dallas and not make excuses or try to shift the blame.” The email continued:
Crime victims deserve a police chief who will fight for them. The people who live in this city deserve someone who will work tirelessly every day to keep them all safe. And they deserve someone who will partner with them to ensure that violent offenders are kept off their streets.
This city also needs a chief who can handle that pressure, who can articulate a clear vision for making the public safer, and who can rally the public to work with the Dallas Police Department.
Police officers, and the next police chief, can’t solve the violent crime problems on their own, but they do play a major role.
Through that search, Dallas found the right person — a savvy, accountable, and experienced leader — and the city achieved four-consecutive years of year-over-year reductions in violent crime.
Today, Dallas is back on the market for a police chief. And while the violent crime situation has drastically improved since early 2021, the job might be even more demanding now.
This hiring decision will be as important as it gets. Historically, Dallas has enjoyed success when the right person comes in — and has suffered the consequences of hiring chiefs who lack the experience and the know-how to be the city’s top cop.
Ultimately, this won’t be my decision to make. The City Charter assigns that responsibility to the city manager. But the new city manager thus far has proven to be a collaborative and responsive leader. And as the only citywide elected official in Dallas, it’s important to share with you what I believe are some of the most crucial qualities that she should be looking for in the next police chief.
1. A Fundamental Understanding of the Stakes
For the police chief, the lives and livelihoods of 1.4 million Dallas residents are at stake every day on the job. More than 3,100 police officers look to the chief for direction. Residents and visitors alike shape their perceptions of Dallas based on how the chief carries himself or herself and how effective they are in communicating their plans and strategies.
These are just the everyday demands. Dallas also needs to dramatically increase its police recruiting and hiring; improve its crime-fighting strategies to ensure people feel safe in the city center; help shape plans for a new police academy; and continue to reduce violent crime every year.
While doing all of this critical work, the police chief also is in a media fishbowl. This means Dallas needs a chief who knows that people are constantly listening, watching, and assessing them. The chief should know how to stay on message, focus on what matters, and get the job done.
2. Tested and Proven Leadership
The recruitment brochure calls for five years of command-level experience at a minimum. But the next chief should have far more than the minimum.
Generally, the most effective chiefs in Dallas have been at the end of long, illustrious careers. Eddie Garcia came to the city after five years of serving as the City of San Jose’s police chief. David Kunkle was a police chief in Grand Prairie and Arlington before he came to Dallas. Other successful police chiefs had spent years as the №2 leader in large urban police departments (including in Dallas), too.
That’s the kind of experience you want: a veteran commander who has been tested and who has had the time to learn from the trials and errors of serving in executive leadership roles. This is not a time to pick a plucky prospect who can maybe “grow into the role.” Dallas needs someone who is ready to lead on Day One.
3. Curiosity and Humility
While the next police chief should have a wealth of knowledge, he or she doesn’t need to have all the answers. And it’s a red flag if they believe they do.
Instead, the chief must possess the curiosity and humility to lean on the expertise of others. Chief Garcia understood this when he engaged criminologists from UT-San Antonio to help develop his crime reduction plans.
Surrounding yourself only with yes-people is a quick way to lose perspective and breed a culture of distrust. The chief needs to be secure enough to seek out problem-solvers, inside and outside of police headquarters.
A combination of thoughtfulness and decisiveness are key. It’s this kind of strategic leadership that produces results.
The world is changing, and the chief needs to possess the ability, flexibility, and relationship-building skills to adapt with it.
4. Shared Vision
Chief Garcia and I had a great relationship that was driven by a shared vision for a safer and stronger Dallas.
The city cannot afford to have a chief who muddles or contradicts the message from city leadership.
The next chief needs to be a person of strength, determination, and resolve who shares the vision of creating the safest big city in the nation with the best police department. Believing in this vision makes every other decision much easier, and it ensures that the city has a united front against criminals.
5. A Sense of the Moment
It’s really not all that important for the incoming chief to be someone who already knows Dallas well. But it will be vital for the next chief to understand how to connect with people and communities.
The next chief will need to learn to read the pulse of the city and demonstrate the ability to speak to Dallas residents’ shared values, fears of criminals, and desires for safer neighborhoods. They have to earn and build trust every single day because crises and big moments will happen, and rarely at convenient times. When those moments do come, the chief has to know it and sense what needs to be done. They must be able to take center stage and show up big for Dallas when it truly counts.
In other words, Dallas needs someone who has shown they can be a team player and a home-run hitter when they know it is needed.
Simply put, Dallas needs the best. This should be more than an expectation; it should be a requirement.
I wish the city manager well on her process and look forward to working with the next police chief, whoever that may be.
That’s all for today. Be well and take care of yourselves. And have a great week.
