Added security features at Dallas police stations will cost $6.8 million

DALLAS (TIP): After a gunman fired more than 40 bullets into Dallas police headquarters in June, Mayor Mike Rawlings pledged to beef up security. Money would be no object.

Now city officials have some idea what that will cost: $6.8 million.

That estimate includes all the changes that have been proposed, City Manager A.C. Gonzalez told the City Council in a memo Friday. But he and his team are still evaluating what’s needed to make the headquarters and seven substations secure.

A formal recommendation will be made Aug. 11.

The cost estimate includes:

  • Replacing glass in the headquarters’ lobby that was broken in the attack and adding a “ballistic window wall.”
  • Moving the metal detectors, X-ray and other machines in the lobby.
  • Adding bullet-resistant glass to protect the headquarters’ information desk, which has no glass around it.
  • Securing perimeters at the headquarters and substations, possibly by adding fences.
  • Updating fire alarms and security systems, including cameras and electronic access cards, at all buildings.
  • Adding bullet-resistant glass to substation lobbies and offices.

The council will have the final say on what changes are budgeted for next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. There will be several budget hearings in coming weeks.

Improving security became a priority after June 13, when James Boulware – who was armed with automatic weapons – opened fire on officers at the headquarters.

Although two officers were sitting at the front desk, no police were injured in the assault.

“Obviously, if I was behind that glass when those bullets came through, I’d say, ‘Boy, it would be nice to have bulletproof glass,'” Rawlings said after the shooting. “So that’s the first thing. But I think it needs to go beyond that.”

Boulware, who also left bombs near the headquarters, led police on a chase in an armored van.

A SWAT sniper later killed Boulware as he sat in the van in a parking lot in Hutchins.

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