The mayor of Dallas has a security detail for a reason. Even though Dallas has a weak-mayor system, this person is the face of the city, for better or worse. The mayor\u2019s opinions and decisions will attract praise and criticism, and anger about those stances can devolve into threatening behavior.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just any security. The Dallas police chief has assigned officers to the mayor\u2019s security detail since 1991. Previous mayors have had a security detail with two people or so<\/a>.<\/p>\n What no one with the city will explain is the math of Mayor Eric Johnson\u2019s security detail. Records we obtained from the city this week show the cost of his security detail \u2014 the salary, overtime and benefits of the officers plus the team\u2019s fleet \u2014 doubled from about $1 million in 2022 and 2023 to more than $2 million in 2024. The security detail cost even more last year: $2.23 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n And as of May 5, officials estimated Johnson\u2019s security detail to have cost the city $1.7 million, more than three quarters of what it cost last year, with roughly eight months in the year to go.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Compensation doubled from about $775,000 in 2023 to more than $1.5 million in 2024. The team\u2019s vehicle fleet, which had cost $10,000 or less three years ago, grew in dollar figures by more than 1,500%. Starting in 2024, the cost of the fleet jumped to more than $161,000 a year, per city records.<\/p>\n Overtime, too, has skyrocketed. Records show overtime grew from about 2,925 hours four years ago to more than 3,600 hours last year.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know whether security threats prompted this dramatic increase in resources to Johnson\u2019s protective detail. Noah DeGarmo, the mayor\u2019s spokesperson, told us Johnson doesn\u2019t oversee his security detail or make decisions regarding its operations, referring questions to the Dallas Police Department. \u00a0<\/p>\n For its part, DPD said the department does not discuss \u201cspecific threats, intelligence, risk assessments or changes in protective posture.\u201d Spokesperson Allison B. Hudson wrote in an email that year-to-year costs can be affected by several factors and that comparing annual totals without accounting for those factors can provide an incomplete picture.<\/p>\n Overtime is driven by \u201cthe Mayor\u2019s official schedule, events, travel and activities requiring coverage outside regularly scheduled hours,\u201d Hudson wrote.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n We\u2019ve struggled to get a picture of what the mayor\u2019s job-related extracurriculars look like. As we\u2019ve written previously, the city has blocked our request for council air travel records<\/a> and has gone to court to challenge a state ruling<\/a> that it must release them.<\/p>\n Johnson became mayor in 2019. Soon after his reelection, he announced in the fall of 2023 that he was switching to the Republican Party<\/a>. The revelation prompted strong backlash within Dallas, a blue city, and made a lot of noise about politics for an office that\u2019s supposed to be nonpartisan. In October of that year, Johnson launched the Republican Mayors Association<\/a>, a group whose goal is to get conservative mayors elected in other cities.<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s security detail costs doubled the next year, in 2024.<\/p>\n Is there a price to getting into the partisan fray? Perhaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas City Hall has been guarded about releasing information. We asked for cost amounts, along with the number of detailed officers and the make and model of the fleet vehicles, in May. The city blocked our request and punted it to the office of the Texas attorney general, citing a range of statutes and security concerns. An assistant attorney general was not convinced, directing the city to release some of the information: \u201cThe fact that information may be related to a governmental body\u2019s security concerns does not make such information per se confidential\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The number of officers who serve in Johnson\u2019s detail and the make and model of vehicles in the fleet was redacted in city records. DPD declined to say, citing security reasons.<\/p>\n What we can describe is what people see at City Hall. At a recent meeting, council member Adam Bazaldua questioned the doubling in cost of the mayor\u2019s security detail, pointing out the presence of six officers in the largely empty council chambers. DPD told us in an email that staffing at one event shouldn\u2019t be interpreted as the routine staffing level for the detail.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I came in as a chief, I left the mayor\u2019s detail exactly how it was before, and the mayor has been safe before then, and he\u2019s safe now,\u201d Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux, who joined the city in April 2025, told the council.<\/p>\n As for the fleet, people who work at City Hall told us they had previously seen a Cadillac Escalade parked in the mayor\u2019s space. Lately, a more modest SUV \u2014 a Chevrolet Suburban \u2014 has taken that spot. No one we queried about the mayor\u2019s detail disputed the observation.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t question that Johnson needs protection. But city officials want to operate in a \u201cTrust us and don\u2019t ask us for the details\u201d environment in the middle of a major budget crunch<\/a>. The city can offer a more robust explanation without compromising the mayor\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n City spending can\u2019t be unfettered. It must be reasonable and responsible \u2014 whether it\u2019s roadwork, libraries or the mayor\u2019s security detail.<\/p>\n