City human resources staff and Dallas Police Department recruiting representatives updated the Workforce Education and Equity Committee on an upskilling pilot aimed at non‑uniform security officers and city marshals, and on recent recruiting sessions and salary updates.

The briefing focused on staffing counts, vacancy rates, pay grades and a pilot pathway for security officers who want to become police officers. "We received questions, and we're here to answer those questions this morning," Sonya Batts, senior HR manager, said at the start of the presentation.

What was presented: Assistant HR Director Carmel Fritz reported that, for the detention/security marshal structure, 110 positions are budgeted with 37 vacancies. Fritz said current counts included 32 detention officers (12 vacancies), 27 security officers (6 vacancies), and 7 senior security officers (no vacancies). Fritz also provided uniform officer counts: 1,647 police officers (217 vacancies), 912 senior corporals (236 vacancies), about 460 police sergeants (15 vacancies), 87 lieutenants (1 vacancy) and 23 majors.

Pay and schedule updates: Fritz told the committee the city updated salary schedules effective Jan. 1, 2025, and increased the city's minimum salary to $19.25 hourly. She said the new starting rate for an entry-level police officer moved from $70,314 (2024 schedule) to about $75,040 as of Jan. 1, 2025, and that departmental merits would be applied in January with data visible to the committee in late January.

DPD recruiting and pilot pathway: Laura Dizian, senior training specialist, described a Dec. 18 recruiting session with DPD that drew 14 security officers and five senior security officers; six security officers expressed continued interest in pursuing the transition. Dizian said the DPD recruiting team will reach out and that a compensation team meeting was scheduled for Jan. 18 to advance a previously shared proposal. "Once that is finalized, we'll hold a similar session to explain that process to security officers interested in moving into the marshal's position," she said.

Committee concerns and direction: Council members raised multiple operational concerns: they pressed HR and DPD to avoid "robbing Peter to pay Paul" — that is, to prevent vacancies from moving from one safety function into another without a recruitment plan to refill the source pool. Committee members asked for a recruitment strategy that maintains staffing levels across detention, security and marshal positions, asked for an updated fiscal note and said they wanted an updated data set at the next committee meeting.

Data issues and follow-up: A committee member flagged apparent errors in the average-salary figures presented; HR acknowledged a data-copy error and committed to provide corrected, post‑merit numbers for all civilian and uniform positions at the next meeting. HR staff committed to update the committee with the new salary and vacancy information by the next monthly meeting and to provide a fiscal note for any proposed grade/salary changes.

Status: No formal committee action was taken at the briefing. Staff recorded directions to update and reissue corrected data, to report on recruitment strategies, and to provide any fiscal impacts associated with proposed pay adjustments.