Dallas, TX
Dallas may need an additional $178 million for police academy project
Dallas officials estimate they need an additional $178.5 million to build a 20-acre police academy at the University of North Texas at Dallas and a 60-acre public safety complex that could be constructed near Wilmer-Hutchins High School in southeast Oak Cliff.
That’s in addition to $96.5 million already secured by the city, which would bring the total estimated price tag of the project to $275 million.
City officials are hinging their bets on covering the funding gap with nearly $50 million in private fundraising and proceeds from the sale of city-owned real estate to cover 20% of the gap. They also anticipate a potential $6 million sponsorship for the public safety complex, according to a presentation.
“I’d like to see more certainty about how we can reduce the cost of the facility or raise more money to close that gap,” council member Paul Ridley told The Dallas Morning News.
Nearly a dozen public speakers arrived at City Hall on Wednesday to voice opposition to the academy. A handful called instead for resources to be devoted to other social issues.
Council members spent a significant portion of the day behind closed doors, where they were scheduled to discuss the agreement between the city and UNTD to lease the training academy site. However, after four hours of closed session deliberations, the City Council adjourned the meeting within moments of returning at about 5:30 p.m.
“We decided to defer the remaining items for the briefing because our executive session went so long,” Ridley later said. He added that the City Council wanted to discuss the academy with fresher eyes.
City officials are expected to vote June 11 on whether to enter an agreement with the UNTD college campus to lease the site of the facility to train new recruits.
“I think we need to get each hurdle cleared before we go to the next one,” council member Paula Blackmon said.
The first hurdle is nailing down the real estate needed for the second facility. The next step is finalizing the property and the pieces that will go into it. “We just need to be very thoughtful and methodical and just clear each hurdle,” she said.
This is the second delay. City officials had planned to update council members with the academy’s progress on May 21, but the briefing was pushed back.
Another question the city will have to consider is how it prioritizes revenue from real estate sales, especially as Dallas continues to suffer billions of dollars of deferred maintenance on existing roads, buildings and neighborhoods.
Mandates outlined by the passage of Proposition U in last year’s election also hang over the city. The ballot measure required the city to maintain 4,000 officers in the force and divert half of any new revenue year over year into the uniformed pension system as well as other public safety initiatives to recruit and retain more first responders.
Council member Cara Mendelsohn said she supports the academy initiative.
“It’s the most important investment for Dallas to make,” she said. “We must be able to have a space that helps us recruit, retain, and [professionally] train our police officers. It shows we prioritize public safety and value those who take the oath to protect and serve.”
Changing plans
The News revealed in February the city quietly changed plans for the police academy, despite millions of dollars committed to the project. UNT Dallas’ campus in southern Dallas had been billed since 2021 as the training site for all future Dallas police hires.
The current police academy in Red Bird has been a pain point for years for officers. It spans 63 acres across two sites in industrial warehouses. Mold and sweat, weathered training rooms, insufficient storage and limited parking spots spurred talk about a new state-of-the-art facility.
Despite past fanfare about the UNTD space housing new recruits, documents obtained by The News showed the city decided to move the academy to an undetermined location. UNTD, according to the documents, would house only a training facility for officers already in service.
Since then, plans have continued to change.
The latest iteration harkens back to the original idea of UNTD housing a facility for new recruits, but added a separate “public safety complex” with a driving track and shooting range. Officials have said they’d begin a feasibility study this year to determine the best site for it.
Of five locations reviewed by the city, including Hensley Field and Cadillac Heights, officials appear to be leaning toward the Wilmer-Hutchins High School area, noting it in Wednesday’s presentation as the site that “meets most of the criteria.”
Similar facilities have carried budgets between $180 million to $1.5 billion, the presentation noted. Three facilities the city reviewed had average budgets of $330 million.
Opposition during public comment
Tamera Lanay, a district two resident, highlighted the uncertainties in Wednesday’s briefing. The city is yet to finalize the project’s location for the complex, which also includes a simulated tactical village.
The briefing, Lanay said, also does not acknowledge that Dallas’ violent crime has seen a decline in the last four years. The city’s focus on the new facility comes amid deep uncertainty in the job market and withdrawal of rental assistance through potential U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cuts.
“When you look at the city budget, there’s a stark difference in public safety funding compared to social services,” Lanay said. “In fact, I got no help from the city of Dallas for rental assistance and instead relied on mutual aid from my community.”
People resort to crime when they don’t have the wages and job needed to pay bills, afford mental health and put food on the table for their families, she said.
“This new facility is not a crime deterrent,” she said. “To make us feel safer in our city, investing in our health, job stability, food security and housing security is a true crime deterrent. We know all of you are going to proceed forward with this facility, but you will see this poor investment will have dire results.”
Lindsay Linderman, a law student at the UNTD, said the new project and “a militarized police force” would not prevent crime. She suggested more resources for the community in education, housing and food security.
The current policing structure and constitutional language, Linderman said, punishes rather than protects residents, and does not match the expectations of what public safety entails.
“I wonder why proposition F, which allocated millions of taxpayer dollars to this facility, was labeled as public safety facilities,” she said. “I believe that Prop F was intentionally confusing, misleading and vague by lumping together this academy with necessary repairs to fire stations in our area.”
Those strolling around downtown Dallas this weekend might have noticed more tails, claws and snouts than usual.
Inside these flamboyant animal costumes, with cartoonish eyes and plushy paws, are people belonging to a subculture known as furries.
They came from different corners of the world, from different occupations – and as different animals.
Cats. Wolves. Lizards.
Convention guests chat during the Furry Fiesta convention at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas, on Mar 28, 2026.
Jason Janik / Special Contributor
All of them, though, gathered for the “Texas Furry Fiesta.” The convention, held at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, drew more than 8,000 furries — people who create an anthropomorphic animal character.
Attendees saw the event as a safe space to connect with others in the fandom, which has long been stigmatized. In Texas and across the country, the group has also been swept into heated battles over gender identity in the classroom.
About 65% of furries have not told any family members about their interest, according to studies conducted by Furscience, a website started by scientists researching the subculture. About 40% felt that the fandom was not socially accepted, according to the studies.
Dallas-Fort Worth has hosted the annual convention since 2009, according to David Brooks, an event spokesperson who is also a furry. The convention was organized by Creature Arts, a Texas charity dedicated to coordinating activities for those interested in anthropomorphic art.
The convention features everything from panels for students applying to medical school to nighttime dances, Brooks said. While the community can interact on the Internet, the convention offers an in-person space.
Attendees buy and trade furry-related items during the Furry Fiesta convention at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas, on Mar 28, 2026.
Jason Janik / Special Contributor
“We have a lot of diversity in our community, ranging from race, sex or gender identity,” Brooks said. “It’s hard to find a space where you can gather together and engage in friendly behavior.”
Inside the hotel, hordes of costumed attendees gathered in halls, waited by elevators and snapped pictures. They poked each other with questions about their outfits, and eyed trinkets at vendor tables.
Benedikt Althaus, who goes by Xariif, wore a tiger fursuit draped in red, white and blue stripes and splotches, reminiscent of the American flag.
This is no American tiger, though: Xariif traveled from Germany. The costume was on the cheaper side of fursuit couture, costing about 2,000 euros (roughly $2300 at current exchange rates).
Xariif poses for a photograph during the Furry Fiesta convention at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas, on Mar 28, 2026.
Jason Janik / Special Contributor
At these conventions, you find friends everywhere, Althaus said.
The fandom has faced controversy, having been tied to sexual fantasies in mass media. For example, a “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” episode portrayed furries as a sexually deviant group. Attendees pushed back on this characterization, saying they are not a fetish community, nor is there an inherently erotic element.
“Most of us are adults. Adult people do adult stuff,” Althaus said. “I don’t think that’s a huge part of this community.”
In 2022, a rumor surfaced in a Michigan school district that litter boxes were being added to unisex bathrooms for students identifying as cats, the New York Times reported. Similar accusations popped up across the country, leaving school superintendents, including the one in Michigan, to debunk them.
In 2025, Gov. Greg Abbott resurrected the hoax during his tour to pitch a $1 billion school voucher-style program, the Houston Chronicle reported. The same year, a bill, called the “F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act,” was introduced to outlaw role-playing in Texas public schools.
“In some small rural sections of school districts in the state of Texas, they have in their schools, what are called furries,” Abbott told a gathering of pastors in Austin. “Kids go to school dressed up as cats with litter boxes in their classrooms.”
Similar events to the Texas Furry Fiesta have also been the target of violence. In 2014, at a Chicago-area furry convention, an “intentional” chlorine gas bomb was detonated, leaving 19 people hospitalized, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Near Main Street Garden Park, Alejandra Martinez did a double-take when she spotted a tail. Then, another.
It wasn’t a dog, or cat, or raccoon, but people.
While she can’t relate to the subculture, she can relate to the artistry and creativity required of it. At a small market on Saturday, she was selling handmade jewelry and charms for her business.
“If you look at it from a creative outlet, you definitely see, this is actually a hobby they’re dedicated to,” Martinez said.
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LB Josiah Trotter had a Top 30 visit with the Dallas Cowboys.
Former Missouri linebacker Josiah Trotter is working out for the Dallas Cowboys ahead of the 2026 NFL draft, according to his March 27 Instagram story.
If Dallas selects the 20-year-old linebacker, who is the son of Philadelphia Eagles legend Jeremiah Trotter and the brother of current Eagles LB Jeremiah Jr., it would put two brothers on opposite sides of one of the NFL’s most heated rivalries.
Jeremiah Sr. spent the best years of his 12-season NFL career in Philadelphia, earning four Pro Bowl nods, a first-team All-Pro nod and induction into the Eagles Hall of Fame. Jeremiah Jr. was a fifth-round pick by the Eagles in the 2024 draft and won a Super Bowl ring as a rookie.
Now, a third member of the family is about to enter the league, and it’s clear the Cowboys have a close eye on him.
More on Dallas Cowboys Having LB Josiah Trotter in for a Top 30 Visit Ahead of NFL Draft
GettyThe Dallas Cowboys are bringing LB Josiah Trotter in for a Top 30 visit ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Trotter’s college career was brief but sharply ascending. He signed with West Virginia in 2022 and redshirted the 2023 season after tearing his ACL during spring practices — a significant setback that delayed his debut but did nothing to diminish his trajectory.
When he finally got on the field in 2024, Trotter immediately established himself as a tone-setter. He finished the season with 92 tackles, four tackles for loss, half a sack, an interception and two passes defended, earning Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year honors and a spot on the Football Writers Association of America freshman All-American team.
Looking for a bigger stage, Trotter transferred to Missouri, and the move to the SEC only elevated his game. Playing in the tougher conference, he finished with 84 tackles (13 for loss), 2.0 sacks and a pass defended in 2025, earning first-team All-SEC recognition. Across two seasons as a starter, Trotter compiled 176 tackles and 2.5 sacks while playing for two different programs — a testament to his ability to step in and produce regardless of scheme.
Trotter also met with Dallas at the scouting combine, so the Cowboys’ interest is clearly there.
A Closer Look at the Cowboys LB Room Heading Into 2026 NFL Draft
Dallas’ linebacker room was arguably its weakest position group in 2025. DeMarvion Overshown, their most talented option at the position, has now suffered season-ending knee injuries in back-to-back years, including a torn ACL, MCL and PCL in December 2024 that cost him the first 10 games of the 2025 season. He returned in Week 11 but went down again with another serious knee injury in Week 16.
Overshown enters 2026 in the final year of his rookie contract, and the Cowboys have not committed to an extension. Dallas released veteran Logan Wilson this offseason, and Kenneth Murray departed after a relatively underwhelming year-long stint.
Drafting Josiah would mean a Trotter lining up on both sides of the NFC East’s nastiest rivalry — one brother anchoring the middle for the Eagles, the other doing the same in Dallas.
Considering new defensive coordinator Christian Parker is installing a 3-4 base defense that puts a premium on physical, smart players over the middle, there’s little doubt Dallas will be adding to the position in the draft. The only question is which LB(s) they’ll wind up with.
More Heavy on Cowboys
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