The city of Dallas is expected to move forward with plans to form a partnership with the University of North Texas at Dallas for a new police academy hosted by and on the school's campus.
An agenda item before the City Council would allow the city manager to identify and evaluate locations on and off-campus to serve as a new academy.
Previous paperwork from former chief Renee Hall indicated the current training facilities were inadequate to handle the needs and size of the growing department.
The memo said there was not enough room for reality-based training for officers and recruits, the classrooms were too small and the driving track did not resemble a city street.
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“I look forward to having many of our training officers put back to patrol so that our recruits can be taught by professional educators and that way we can actually free up patrol hours of officers that now are spending a lot of time in the academy; which really isn’t their chosen career path,” Dallas City Councilman Lee Kleinman said in a public safety committee meeting.
UNT Dallas is already home to the Caruth Police Institute.
