Dallas PD Chief Edgardo Garcia Mentioned as Possible HPD Leader

HOUSTON — With Tory Finner retiring as Houston police chief, there is already speculation about who will replace him.

With Larry Satterwhite taking over on an interim basis, sources tell our sister station WFAA that the city of Houston has expressed interest in Dallas Police Chief Edgardo Garcia to fill the position permanently.

WFAA reports, according to sources, that the Austin and Houston police departments are expressing interest in Garcia.

We contacted Mayor John Whitmire’s office to see if they were pursuing Garcia and they sent us the following statement.

“Mayor Whitmire wants to improve HPD, take the department out of the media headlines and return its focus to public safety. He is confident that Interim Chief Satterwhite will be a strong leader and that it is too early to discuss next steps in finding a new police chief.

So who is Edgardo Garcia? He was hired as chief in Dallas in 2021 and is currently employed at-will, meaning he could leave at any time. The city of Dallas may have to offer a stay contract, according to WFAA sources.

Austin’s interest, according to WFAA, is because the police chief position has been vacant since August, when Joseph Chacon retired. It could also be attractive to Garcia because former Dallas City Manager TC Broadnax is now city manager there. Broadnax hired Garcia in Dallas, according to WFAA.

WFAA reports that under Garcia, violent crime in the city has declined for three straight years and is now at a six-year low.

Before Garcia was in Dallas, he served as chief of the San Jose Police Department from 2016 to 2020. That’s where he began his career in law enforcement.

Whitmire announced Finner’s retirement in a memo that KHOU 11 obtained Tuesday evening. Finner is leaving the department amid the scandal involving the “understaffing” code that has led to thousands of suspended incident cases. Below is KHOU 11’s coverage of