Dallas Breaks Ground on $227 Million Police Training Campus at UNT Dallas

Dallas finally put shovels in the dirt on a police training campus the city has talked about for decades. Local coverage puts the ceremonial groundbreaking at the University of North Texas at Dallas in early September 2026, on about 20 acres in southern Dallas. The project is the Dallas Police Department Law Enforcement Training Center, estimated at about $227 million.

The new campus is meant to replace the temporary Dallas Police Academy that has operated out of an industrial strip-center setting since about 1990, according to Fox 4. City and police leaders say the permanent site will train recruits and support continuing education for current officers in one place, next to UNT Dallas.

Ground is cleared for Dallas’s planned Law Enforcement Training Center next to UNT Dallas. Funding beyond the 2024 bond slice is still in play.

What the campus is planned to hold

Reporting from Fox 4, NBC 5, and Yahoo’s local write-up describes a full training campus, not a single classroom building. Planned elements include a basic academy, an in-service training academy, a physical training pavilion, a criminal justice center, and reality-based training space. KRLD and related local coverage also describe a college pathway with UNT Dallas so recruits can earn credit toward an associate or bachelor’s degree while they complete academy work.

A separate field-training complex for driving, firearms, and related work has been discussed near Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas Morning News coverage of the funding picture. That piece is not the UNT Dallas groundbreaking itself; treat it as a related proposal, not part of the shovel-ready campus footprint.

Funding is only partly locked

Voters approved $50 million for the academy in the city’s 2024 bond package. Local outlets put the full Law Enforcement Training Center estimate near $227 million, so the groundbreaking does not mean the funding gap is closed. Coverage around the ceremony points to a larger public-safety bond package, reported at about $443 million, headed to Dallas voters on November 3, 2026. Fox 4 and Dallas Morning News both frame that vote as the next major funding decision for the academy and related public-safety facilities.

Completion is repeatedly described as about two years out, or around 2028, if construction and funding hold. For training staff watching Dallas, the practical takeaway is simple: track the UNT Dallas build and the November bond language. Recruit and in-service seating will follow what actually gets funded.

Sources: Fox 4, Dallas police training center breaks ground at UNT Dallas; NBC 5 DFW, Dallas breaks ground on new police training center at UNT; Yahoo News, Dallas breaks ground on $227 million police training center at UNT Dallas; Dallas Morning News, Dallas voters could again be asked to help fund a police academy.