Fort Worth community questions application privileges for police chief candidate Eddie Garcia
Inside the New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church on Thursday, Fort Worth community members gathered to address concerns regarding a candidate for the Fort Worth Police Chief position.
Pastor Kyev Tatum, along with members from the Ministers Justice Coalition, urged candidate Eddie Garcia to withdraw his application for police chief, alleging Garcia was given special privileges allowing him to submit his application after the deadline date. Garcia is one of three candidates vying for the job, along with interim police chief Robert Alldredge, former Dallas Police Deputy Chief Vernon Hale III.
"We cannot afford a process that begins with expectations with exceptions and special privilege," said Tatum during a press conference. "We do not need a police chief who is going to come in and perpetuate this kind of attitude with the endorsement of the Police Officers Association and we do not say something about it."
Garcia is currently Austin's assistant city manager overseeing public safety. He was the Dallas police chief until September 2024. At that time, he also told CBS News Texas that his law enforcement career was over.
"I'm not going to be a police chief, I'm done. My law enforcement career is over, and if I ever got a shadow box, the last badge on there is going to be the Dallas Police Department," Garcia said in a 2024 interview with Doug Dunbar.
"Everything he said in Dallas was not true, everything he told them in Austin was not true," Tatum said.
CBS News Texas asked Tatum who they want to see as the next police chief or if they will endorse a candidate, and he said they aren't in the "endorsement business," adding that when it comes to community policing, the community needs to be involved inthe process from the beginning.
In a statement, a city spokesperson said in part, "candidates were 'strongly encouraged' to apply by June 4… Chief Garcia did not receive special privileges. He submitted his application in a reasonable window that still allowed this process to be fair to all candidates."
CBS News Texas asked the city to give us the exact date when Garcia submitted his application, and a spokesperson said the group they used to search for candidates has that information—and they would not be able to provide it by the deadline.
