The memo said the city will train recruits at a new facility on the UNT Dallas campus after all, at least for some of the classroom portion of their basic training.
DALLAS — After strong criticism from councilmembers at a briefing Wednesday, Dallas officials announced Friday evening they will again return to the drawing board to revamp the city’s proposal to build a long-awaited new DPD training facility on the campus of the University of North Texas at Dallas.
The memo said the city will train recruits at a new facility on the UNT Dallas campus after all, at least for some of the classroom portion of their basic training.
Before a 2024 bond vote, the city said its proposed training facility would be a boon for attracting new recruits. But at Wednesday’s meeting, the city said it would build a smaller than advertised facility at UNT Dallas that would mostly provide in-service training to existing DPD officers.
The plan called for a second facility for fresh recruits to be built at a location yet to be identified.
This prompted backlash from councilmembers who said it appeared the city was trying to pull a “bait and switch” on voters.
“I find that troubling,” said Councilmember Kathy Stewart. “The whole purpose of this new training facility was for the new recruits.”
In the memo sent to councilmembers Friday night, the city said it will adjust its plans.
“The modified conceptual plan will provide DPD recruits classroom training as they begin their career on day one and will provide DPD officers with a place for in-service training,” wrote Chief of Public Safety Dominique Artis and Assistant City Manager Dev Rastogi.
Artis and Rastogi said the city would work to modify the plan with DPD and UNT Dallas leadership, as well as consult associations representing police groups and state and private funders. They plan to brief the city council on their updated plan in April 2025.
“While the project team will focus on ways to best use space on the UNT-Dallas campus, we will also continue to investigate a plan for training components that are not compatible with the UNT Dallas campus including, an outdoor shooting range, an emergency vehicle operations course, and a simulated tactical village,” the memo said.
City leaders had said the 14-acre space allocated at UNT Dallas was likely not big enough to host training for both new recruits and existing officers and would not have space for a driving track or an outdoor gun range. Training officers expressed a preference for all the fresh cadet training to take place on the same campus.
However, the city is tied to building a police training facility at UNT Dallas because it is a condition of $25 million pledged by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick to aid with the project. When the Dallas Morning News first reported the city’s change of plans, Patrick put on hold the remaining $5 million yet to be allocated to the project.
“This is a very disappointing turn of events,” Patrick’s spokesperson said in a statement to WFAA earlier in the week. “[I] am not pleased that I was not notified in advance about these significant changes.”
