Outgoing San Jose police chief a finalist for Dallas top cop.
Garcia is one of seven candidates in the running to lead that department
SAN JOSl » Outgoing San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia, days away from ending a 28-year stint with his hometown department, is one of seven candidates being considered as the next police chief in Dallas, officials announced Thursday.
In being selected as a finalist to replace U. Reneé Hall, Garcia is vying to jump from leading the police force in the country’s 10th- largest city to the ninth- la rgest, with a
Police Department three times the size of that in San Jose.
A st ate - ment from the San
Jose City Manager’s Office on Thursday said the city was continuing its own search for a chief, with applications accepted online through Dec. 31. The city has completed nine virtual meetings, including some in Spanish and Vietnamese, and is surveying community members to get input from the public on the search.
Garcia announced his retirement from the San Jose Police Department in August, a month before Hall announced her own intent to resign, touching off a search process that Dallas city officials have said will be completed by the end of the year.
Garcia is on the short list along with police chiefs from Irving, Texas, and Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as four current or former commanders for the Dallas Police Department. He is the second SJPD chief to become a finalist to lead Dallas police. Rob Davis was considered for the role a decade ago.
When the Dallas job officially became open, Garcia said he was approached by a recruiting company run
by former Martinez Police Chief Gary Peterson, and the opportunity piqued his interest.
“It has challenges. It has violent crime challenges,” Garcia said in an interview. “The goal of getting everyone rowing in the same direction is appealing. I know it’s going to be difficult. You’re definitely going to be earning your salary.”
That marks a shift from what Garcia has said in numerous public comments over the years, in which he stated that he was not looking for another police job after retirement, citing that as evidence of his commitment to SJPD and his insularity from political influence.
Hall was under pressure for not driving down violent crime to the satisfaction of city leaders and was criticized for her department’s response to June demonstrations protesting the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.
SJPD has faced similar scrutiny over its aggressive response to protesters this spring, which prompted the department to conditionally ban rubber-bullet use and the City Council to grill commanders over their tactics. Scores of demonstrators were injured.
So far, allegations over excessive force remain under internal investigation, and no formal discipline for any officers related to the protests has been disclosed.
As he did in August, Garcia defended his officers while admitting they made mistakes in the face of unprecedented crowds for downtown San Jose.
“I’m proud of our response, but did we make mistakes? We absolutely did make mistakes,” he said. “But we’ll get better.”
Garcia said that the succession of police chiefs retiring and resigning in the aftermath of the nationwide protests made him rethink his own earlier decision to leave the profession.
“Who’s going to carry on law enforcement throughout this country if we as chiefs throw the towel in?” he said.
So why not keep that fight going in San Jose?
In an interview this week, Garcia acknowledged that financial factors were part of that decision: In turning 50 this month, he has nearly topped out his city pension plan, which will pay him in the neighborhood of $250,000 annually.
“It was a personal decision, based on a lot of factors, one of them being the financial realities of retirements,” he said.
Rick Callender, president of the NAACP’s California-Hawaii state conference, was one of Garcia’s references, and said Dallas can “benefit from what he’s done” in San Jose.
Victor Garza, chair of La Raza Roundtable, added that “no matter where he goes, he is going to help that community.”
Before the George Floyd protests bruised the department, Garcia’s tenure was marked by restoring SJPD’s ranks after they dipped by more than a third amid political strife over pay and pensions, introducing bodyworn cameras, mandatory crisis intervention training and police history education, publishing aggregate use- of-force data online, and increasing its community outreach.
“He has been responsive and respectful in working with communities of color,” Callender said. “Did everything go perfect under his watch? Absolutely not. But are you willing to accept the fact things went bad, apologize and change the course? Eddie was able to do that.”
Derrick Sanderlin, an organizer with People Acting in Community Together and former police bias trainer, became a face of the scars left by the protest response when an officer shot him in the groin with a rubber bullet.
He said Garcia “has a really big heart” but that several of his stances have put him at odds with community activists.
“No chief is going to magically make anything better,” he said. “It’s going to be the about the voice of the community always.”
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said the skill set Garcia displayed in working with city leaders could serve him well should he be selected to lead Dallas’ Police Department.
“You would be hardpressed to find many other large city chiefs that have been able to maintain such a positive relationship with the rank and file, the union and city management simultaneously,” Liccardo said. “He has been able to maintain relationships that have weathered many storms.”