On September 3, 2015, Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown hosted a press conference along with the Safer Dallas Better Dallas board members and steering committee. During the press conference, the president of Safer Dallas Better Dallas, Mr. Gary Griffith, presented Chief Brown with a check for $20,000 for the purchase of body cameras for the next academy class.

Dallas Police Department Executive Assistant Chief David Pughes made a major announcement about plans for a new reality based training facility. Safer Dallas Better Dallas is leading a $2 million campaign to fund the development of the training facility that will be modeled after the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s in Quantico, Va. The facility will be a mock city with buildings and roadways that will allow officers to train in a more realistic environment.

Executive Assistant Chief Pughes said, “the Department of Justice has stated that reality based training is the best training that law enforcement officers can be provided with.” Chief Brown has already tripled the reality based training staff and is committed to providing Dallas Police officers with the best training in the country in order to make Dallas America’s safest big city.