Dallas presents reimagined police training academy plan with UNT partnership; funding gap remains

Dallas City Council and city staff on March 5 presented a reimagined plan for the Dallas Public Safety Training System, a two‑phase effort that would locate a Regional Training Academy and a Criminal Justice Center on property at the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas) and later build a larger City of Dallas Public Safety Complex at a separate city site.

City Manager Kimberly Beiser Tolbert and project staff said the first phase at UNT Dallas is planned as roughly a $80 million, 14‑acre campus component to house larger classrooms, expanded reality‑based training, health and fitness space, ceremonial/community spaces and a separate Criminal Justice Center for UNT faculty and joint programming. "We are committed to delivering a world class state of the art 20 century police facility for our men and our women in blue," city staff said during the briefing.

The briefing emphasized the academic partnership. UNT Dallas interim president Warren Von Eschenbach described degree pathways and research collaborations the university expects to build with the Dallas Police Department, saying the colocation and programming would create a pipeline for students into sworn and non‑sworn city jobs and provide recruits and officers access to continuing education and research.

Funding commitments cited in the briefing totalled $91.5…