The University of North Texas at Dallas will receive $10 million for its new law enforcement training center, a yearslong construction project aimed at improving training facilities for police.
The Communities Foundation of Texas’ grant marks the largest philanthropic gift in the university’s history and helps pave the way for a new Dallas police academy by 2027, officials announced at a news conference Thursday.
The new academy is meant to improve the Dallas Police Department’s training experience and boost recruitment and morale, particularly in light of steady drops in police staffing numbers in recent years. City officials have repeatedly decried the worn-down state of the current academy, which houses about 300 police recruits.
The current academy is housed in a rented industrial space in the Red Bird neighborhood and has been used by the department since 1990, although it was originally only intended to be temporary, Dallas Police Chief Eddie García said.
The new center is set to be located next to a park on 5 acres of UNT Dallas’ campus, officials said. It will feature more communal spaces and classrooms, expanded gym facilities, outdoor running paths and virtual reality training technology. The facility will also serve as a regional training center for other police departments in the area.
The project was projected to cost about $150 million, police officials previously said.
The state Legislature committed $20 million last year, and the city of Dallas hopes to allocate an additional $50 million through this year’s bond package, which the City Council will vote on next week. If approved, residents will vote on it in May. The city hoped to obtain the rest through private funds and charitable grants.
Dallas police have struggled to replenish ranks amid high attrition rates, even with the introduction of new incentives and programs in recent years to retain and recruit officers. The department has about 3,000 officers, down from the 3,500 to 3,600 it had in 2014 before hundreds left during a pension crisis in 2016-17.
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