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Dallas Police Department reports hiring gains, seeks larger recruitment marketing budget
Summary
Major Ashford told the Dallas Public Safety Committee the department is up in recruiting and minority hires, but council members pressed for clearer return-on-investment metrics and a larger advertising budget to meet hiring goals.
Major Ashford, presenting for the Dallas Police Department, told the Public Safety Committee on May that the department’s recruiting effort is up substantially from the prior fiscal year and that the department wants to expand marketing to sustain momentum.
“We’re up 36% in our recruiting efforts from the last fiscal year. We have recruited 85 recruits so far,” Major Ashford said. He described recent class sizes and noted record numbers of Hispanic recruits in one academy class and strengthened minority representation in other classes.
The report said April saw 12 sworn departures and seven hires; year-to-date the department had lost 86 officers and hired 158. Ashford said the department remains on pace to hire roughly 300 officers this fiscal year and that a new academy class of 43 recruits had just started.
Why it matters: Council members pressed the department to link marketing dollars to measurable hiring outcomes. Ashford said the department currently spends $250,000 on advertising and has requested an additional $250,000 — for a proposed $500,000 total — in the upcoming fiscal year to expand outreach.
Committee members questioned how the department will measure return on that investment. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem asked whether $250,000 is “enough” and argued the department should aim higher; Ashford said the department has asked to double the current budget. Council members also urged that creative messaging reflect the department’s recruitment research showing a strong “call to serve” motivation among applicants.
Ashford outlined where the department is placing ads: grocery-cart panels in eight stores, six mall displays across several cities, 24 DART buses in Dallas, billboards, pre-movie theater advertising and a Love Field airport ad. “We will be advertising on DART until the end of the State Fair Texas, which is gonna be October 19,” he said.
Council members and staff also asked for additional staffing metrics to track net gains (hires minus attrition) across years and for a column comparing police staffing to city population. Councilwoman Stewart and others asked that monthly slides continue to include historic staffing comparisons so trends are visible.
The committee closed the presentation with requests for follow-up: a breakdown showing how many hires the city expects to retain from the 300 hires goal, clearer marketing ROI metrics, and confirmation of lateral-hire counts and reserve/off-duty recruitment strategies.
Votes at the meeting: The committee approved the April 14 Public Safety Committee minutes before the briefings. A motion was made and seconded; the chair called the vote and it passed by voice.
The committee expects updated metrics at its next meeting and further detail on marketing allocation and measured outcomes.
