Leading two of the largest departments in the country taught Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie García that the foundation of recruiting and retaining officers is community support.
Like cities across the country, Fort Worth is grappling with officer turnover and increasing overtime costs. In the 2025 fiscal year, taxpayers paid about $25 million for police overtime. About three dozen police staffers earned more than $50,000 each in overtime pay during that time, according to payroll information obtained through a records request.
Three months into his new role, García feels certain that Fort Worth is uniquely positioned to attract, hire and retain qualified officers, he said.
He’s so confident that he set a lofty goal for his first year as chief: a fully staffed force by the end of 2026. That means filling the 103 positions vacant as of early December to reach the department’s ideal capacity of 1,906 sworn officers.
“It starts with support,” García said. “The No. 1 thing that I think these individuals, these young men and women that are entering law enforcement, want to see is support: ‘Yes, this is a calling that I have, but where can I go that I will feel supported?’”
Fort Worth stands out among the nation’s largest cities for its public, unwavering support of local law enforcement, García said. That’s part of what attracted him to Cowtown.
“If it lured me back, it should lure you first,” García said.
He reentered the police force less than a year into a job overseeing public safety in the Austin city manager’s office. His roughly three-decade police career includes three years as Dallas’ police chief and five as San Jose’s.
A Fort Worth police officer on horse patrols the street before the Stockyards cattle drive begins in 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report) In September, García took the helm of a department facing increasing overtime costs, due to officers working extra hours to accommodate staffing shortages and scheduling gaps.
Emphasizing that the department “wasn’t broken” when he took the job, García said he aims to curb those costs while filling vacancies and improving morale to ensure officers want to stay in Fort Worth.
One of the first steps in his plan was to stress the importance of community support, which included getting Mayor Mattie Parker and City Manager Jay Chapa to appear in a promotional video that aired in October.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snJh0yQBTEI
Tackling overtime costs
Staffing shortages drive much of the increase in overtime costs, officials said. Police departments will always face at least some overtime costs, Chapa explained, “as it doesn’t make sense to staff full-time employees solely to meet peak demand needs.”
“What we stress is trying to stay within the overall department budget overall,” Chapa said via email. “This is done with all departments.”
Altogether, Fort Worth paid about $5 million more for police overtime in 2025 than the previous fiscal year, about a 20% increase. The city’s 2025 budget allocated about $287 million for police salary and benefits, and later increased that amount by about $10 million, according to the 2026 budget book.
Of Fort Worth’s roughly 1,800 sworn officers, two earned more in overtime pay than their base salaries.
A police sergeant whose annual salary is about $128,000 earned an additional $137,000 in overtime, according to payroll records. An officer whose salary is $105,000 earned an extra $125,000. They were the only two officers to clear six figures in overtime, according to the public records. No one did so in the 2024 and 2023 fiscal years.
García described those figures as “a red flag” to review but said police abuse of overtime pay is minimal. He described overtime as “a necessity that has to happen” but one with careful oversight to ensure fiscal responsibility.
His plan to tackle staffing shortages will naturally help address overtime costs as well, he added.
“There’s no question: With more officers, there will be less overtime,” García said. “That doesn’t mean it’ll eliminate overtime because there’s always those things that will end up coming up.”
Getting the department fully staffed should naturally bring those costs down, Chapa agreed, but year-to-year needs will vary depending on circumstances. For example, the city manager expects next year’s FIFA World Cup games in Arlington to increase overtime needs across the region as local law enforcement responds to the expected influx in tourism.
Fort Worth is not alone in rising overtime costs, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to improving the professionalism of policing.
Police departments nationwide face an aging workforce, a rising number of resignations and low interest from potential candidates. Cities need a certain number of officers to respond to 911 calls and, without that number, public safety is in jeopardy, Wexler stressed.
“You simply can’t have a police department on a Saturday night not have enough officers to respond to crimes in progress,” he said.
That’s a scenario García isn’t willing to risk.
“If I have a gang shooting … I’m not going to sit on my hands, and our officers aren’t going to sit on their hands when we need to deploy possibly more officers to a certain area to make sure that we bring the fever down,” he said.
Tracking police response and needs is necessary to allow García, Chapa and City Council members to have “very thoughtful conversations” about overtime costs, the chief said.
One-of-a-kind support
Marketing Fort Worth’s police department means showing off its amenities and spotlighting the community’s overwhelming approval, García said.
That was the goal of the department’s promotional video featuring García, Chapa and Parker. Smiling broadly, the mayor and city manager shared encouraging words about how “we back the blue” while the chief urged people to apply to work for a department that “supports your work and values you.”
“I’m not quite sure I’ve seen a major city have a recruiting video where both their mayor and their city manager and their police chief all agree that they support the blue,” García told the Report.
To Chapa, it was a no-brainer to get in front of the camera.
“I have always said that a safe city is a place where people want to live and visit and that will ultimately be successful,” Chapa said. “If participating in the video supports improving the quality and quantity of potential candidates for our department, then sign me up.”
Such public support from city leaders can make all the difference in a candidate’s interest in working for one department over another, Wexler said. For example, cities in Florida typically have an easier time recruiting because of that state’s reputation for supporting law enforcement, he said.
“The last five to 10 years have been a very difficult time for policing,” Wexler said. “And one of the things we know is that when a community is supportive of their police officers, that makes a difference.”
He noted García’s reputation among the rank and file in particular, saying the chief’s “very positive, can-do kind of attitude” will impact how people view the department.
In October, after the recruitment video was posted, the department reported receiving nearly 4,000 applications in 2025, with more than half of those submitted after city officials announced García’s candidacy for the job.
The future of Fort Worth depends on a steadfast commitment to public safety, said Parker, who hosted García on the December episode of her monthly podcast. As mayor, she said, it’s important to listen to the chief to inform policy related to recruitment and retention and to ensure the department has the resources it needs.
“We’re incredibly privileged to have what I believe is the finest police department in the nation, and it’s important that our officers know that their city leadership and community stand firmly with them,” she said in a statement.
Balancing recruitment with retention
Beyond getting more officers in the door, García wants to retain them.
His staffing plan focuses on four key areas: recruiting new officers; ensuring high morale among the rank and file; aggressively recruiting lateral officers from other departments; and enticing retirement-eligible officers to work for a few more years.
Fort Worth’s police force is already well-positioned to deliver those goals, he said.
The city’s Crime Control and Prevention District, a half-cent sales tax used to fund public safety efforts; a state-of-the-art police academy; new and innovative technology; competitive salary and benefit packages; and investment in officers’ mental health make Fort Worth stand out from other departments, he said.
Sometimes, the little things make just as much difference, particularly among younger generations, García said. For example, today’s officers can grow facial hair and wear visible earrings and tattoos unlike previous generations of police.
“It’s certainly not throwing out the baby with the bath water but to think of little things that inspire them and motivate them,” García said.
A police vehicle parked at the Stockyards in 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report) Meanwhile, shifting perspectives on law enforcement nationwide may better position cities to recruit officers, particularly as federal immigration officers attract attention on the news, Wexler said. President Donald Trump’s administration is focused on detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants.
“The national mood is different today,” Wexler said. “The police are no longer the focus of concern as much as federal agencies now.”
In Fort Worth’s recruitment video, García urged prospective candidates to follow their calling to serve their community and make a positive impact on the city.
“If you are a police officer or you want to become one, and you want to go to a city that supports you, that supports your work and values you, come join us at the Fort Worth Police Department,” he said.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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