The Dallas Police Department is pushing hard to increase the size of the force with retention and recruiting.
A police academy graduation Friday demonstrated the variety of places from which new hires are being sought for the force.
Five of the new officers came from the City of Dallas. The rest are from other cities in Texas, one each from California, New York, Maryland and Oklahoma. One new officer is from Brazil.
New officer Auri King is from North Carolina.
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“I feel like I'm very prepared for anything that comes my way. I grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood in Fayetteville. I feel like I'm very dynamic. I've been around the world thanks to the military,” she said.
The US Army veteran said she liked Dallas on visits to the city while posted at Fort Hood. She is also the mother of a 4-year-old boy.
"He loves to tell everyone, 'my mom's a cop,'" she said.
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New Officer Adam Harmon was a police officer for six years in a suburb of Tulsa, Oklahoma, his hometown. Harmon said he decided big city Dallas is the place he would rather serve.
“I just liked everything that the Dallas Police Department stood for, how it impacts its officers, extremely high standard that the Dallas Police Department has for its officers,” Harmon said.
In his speech to the new officers Friday, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said expectations are very high.
“It is no ordinary job and it is second to none. The bar is set high for you,” Garcia said.
The Dallas Police force is currently around 600 officers smaller than the 2011 peak of 3,690. More officers left the force than were hired each of the past two years.
“We need to continue recruiting and we need to do our best to keep people from leaving the minute they are retirement eligible. That's not just an issue in Dallas. That's an issue that's going on nationally,” Garcia said.
New Officer David Kaiser from Texas, the class 382 leader, said the training was rigorous but the recruits did not quit.
“We trained in the freezing cold and under the harsh Texas sun for hours on end. We pushed ourselves to the limit only to learn we could push ourselves even further,” Kaiser said.
Officer King said she hopes to reach young people in Dallas and boost the image of policing which was not held in a positive light where she grew up.
“I just decided this is exactly where I wanted to be,” King said.
Despite having six years of law enforcement experience in Oklahoma, Officer Harmon said he went through the entire Dallas Police Academy course along with those who had no experience. He said the well-trained officers can improve relations with the Dallas community.
“That’s always the goal, to serve our community the best way we can,” Harmon said.
Both new officers from other states said they hope others will follow their choice to serve in Dallas.
“It’s a great state, an amazing city that supports its law enforcement, the honorable men and women that do this job. I see it every day in our communities,” Garcia said. “From a recruiting standpoint, I’m happy where we’re at.”
Garcia said 120 more recruits are in the academy now and 90 others are in the application review pipeline.
