The Dallas Police Department will now be responsible for traffic enforcement on freeways and tollways within city limits after the state and county each announced they would pull out of enforcement responsibilities.
The new responsibility comes as overtime pay for police officers is projected to be $2.7 million over budget for fiscal year 2026, and the department works to improve its long response times.
But police chief Daniel Comeaux said in a press release Thursday the department is ready.
“These transitions allow us to take a more comprehensive approach to traffic safety across Dallas,” Comeaux said. “By increasing the capacity of our Traffic Unit, we can provide specialized response on our freeways and tollways while reducing the need to pull patrol officers away from neighborhoods and emergency calls for service.”
Dallas police took over freeway patrols Friday after the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office abruptly announced the end of an enforcement partnership in early August. The agreement was supposed to last until 2028.
KERA News reached out to the sheriff's office for comment on the terminated agreement and will update this story with any response.
Dallas police officers will also be the primary responders to North Texas Tollway Authority roadways and portions of President George Bush Turnpike in city limits by Sept. 1.
That comes after the Texas Department of Public Safety announced in June it would let an agreement to patrol the roadways expire. The department at the time said, “the current service-for-fees model is no longer compatible with the Department's mission."
A spokesperson for DPD told KERA news it will get paid for patrolling tollways, but the details haven’t been settled yet.
The city budgeted about $758 million for DPD in 2026, but it’s forecasted to spend $6.6 million over budget.
The department currently faces a voter-approved mandate to maintain at least 4,000 police officers. It had more than 3,200 officers by the end of May, up from the department’s low of 3,060 in 2023. It aims to have 3,800 officers by 2028.
Despite the recent increase in officers, all calls except the highest priority level have response times of more than an hour, DPD officials said this month.
Here are the response times for fiscal year 2026:
- Priority 1: 8.62 minutes
- Priority 2: 66.02 minutes
- Priority 3: 110.16 minutes
- Priority 4: 126.34 minutes
Those numbers are better than last year's, but nothing to be proud of, Council Member Adam Bazaldua said at an Aug. 19 briefing.
“I don't think there should be any pride in the fact that there's only one category of calls to 911 who's getting a response in less than an hour from our police department,” Bazaldua said.
Dylan Duke is KERA's breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan at dduke@kera.org.
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