The Dallas city manager will begin working with UNT Dallas to begin training police officers at a facility on campus. The city council approved the plan Wednesday.
"I think our officers deserve more, and they deserve better," says Councilwoman Carolyn King Arnold. "I'm going to do whatever I can to keep pushing and keep advocating so we push that across the mark."
Currently, Dallas police operate training facilities on Red Bird Drive. The leases for both addresses is about $1 million a year.
In a memo to members of the city council's public safety committee, "issues and challenges related to the current training academy" are listed:
• The size of both facilities is inadequate to meet the current demand for training
• Parking spots are limited, and lots must be routinely cleared to serve as a track for conducting the academy’s pursuit driver training
• Insufficient storage for training equipment
• Insufficient number of water fountains available for recruits
• Insufficient locker room size and available showers, especially for the number of female recruits/officers
• The facilities lack a dedicated break room
• Inadequate space to efficiently provide the academy’s reality-based training to officers and recruits
• Classrooms are too small to accommodate growing number of recruits
• Driving track does not resemble that of a real city roadway
• Lack of jogging track and field for required physical training
• Deteriorating conditions of facility
• Breakroom, restroom and shower plumbing issues
• Weight room is too small for housing equipment and space is limited for training recruits
"I think it's really important that we continue to professionalize community policing in our city," says Councilman Lee Kleinman. "I think this is a major step toward that."
The decision Wednesday does not affect the city's budget. City Manager TC Broadnax has only been authorized to work with UNT Dallas to evaluate sites on and off-campus that might be suitable for training activities.
"We don't really know exactly all the elements and components that will fit on the campus of UNT-Dallas, a driving track, for example," says Assistant City Manager Jon Fortune.
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