The El Paso Police Chief is Peter Pacillas, appointed to the permanent position on October 2, 2023 after serving as interim chief earlier that year. He leads a department of roughly 1,100 sworn officers and about 325 civilian employees, operating on a preliminary fiscal year 2026 budget of approximately $225 million to cover a city of some 680,000 residents across more than 250 square miles.1City of El Paso. FY 2026 Preliminary Budget – Department Updates2Police Funding Database. El Paso, Texas The role carries broad operational authority inside the department and sits under the direct supervision of the City Manager.
Who Peter Pacillas Is
Pacillas spent his entire law enforcement career at EPPD. He graduated from the El Paso Police Academy in 1988 and worked his way up over more than three decades, becoming an assistant police chief in 2009. That gave him well over a decade of senior command experience before he was asked to steady the department after the death of longtime Chief Greg Allen on January 17, 2023.
The city named Pacillas interim chief in February 2023 and then ran a national search for a permanent replacement. Four finalists were named. Pacillas was selected and formally hired that October, bringing deep institutional knowledge to a border city where local policing routinely intersects with federal agencies and law enforcement across the river in Ciudad Juárez.
What the Chief Does
The chief has direct authority over every operational element of the department: patrol assignments, resource allocation, strategic planning, and the specialized units that handle investigations, internal affairs, and airport operations. Departmental policy comes from the chief’s office through internal General Orders covering use of force, evidence handling, and the rest of the standards officers work under.
Discipline is one of the most consequential pieces of the job. Under Texas Local Government Code Chapter 143, the department head is the only person who can initiate the suspension or dismissal of a police officer for violating civil service rules. A single violation can draw a suspension of up to 15 calendar days, and the chief can also pursue permanent termination for serious misconduct.3Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Opinion No. DM-248 Disciplined officers may appeal to the civil service commission, which can uphold the action, modify it, or restore the officer to their former position.
The pay reflects the scope. The city’s posted range for the position runs from roughly $123,580 to $241,080 annually, with the actual starting figure depending on the selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.4City of El Paso. Police Chief Job Posting
How the Chief Is Appointed and Removed
The El Paso City Manager recruits, selects, and appoints the police chief. Recent openings have drawn national searches, though the last two permanent chiefs both came from inside EPPD. Candidates need active peace officer certification from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and significant command-level experience.
Removal is where the role gets legally unusual. The chief serves at the pleasure of the city manager for the leadership position itself, but the job sits inside Texas civil service protections. Under Texas Local Government Code Section 143.013, a chief removed from the top position for reasons other than misconduct must be reinstated to the department at a rank no lower than the one held before promotion, with full seniority rights preserved.5State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.013 If removal involves formal civil service charges, the former chief can demand a hearing before the commission, like any other officer. That gives the chief a cushion other senior municipal executives do not have, even though the leadership title itself can be taken away.
Training the Chief Has to Keep Up
Running the department does not exempt a chief from ongoing training. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement sets continuing education mandates that apply to every chief in the state. For the current cycle running from September 2025 through August 2027, chiefs must complete at least 40 hours of training, including state and federal law updates and 16 hours of ALERRT (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) coursework.6Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Chief Administrator Training Requirements
The Uvalde Strong Act, passed after the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, layered on active-attack training. Chiefs must now complete the Texas Police Chief Leadership Series each training unit and select from a list of approved active-attack incident management courses. A newly appointed chief faces 80 hours within the first two years, covering both the New Chief Development Program and the Leadership Series, and must keep up the standard 40-hour peace officer continuing education until those 80 hours are complete.6Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Chief Administrator Training Requirements Chiefs without an intermediate TCOLE certificate or higher take on additional coursework in crisis intervention, cultural diversity, and de-escalation.
Who the Chief Answers To
The chief reports directly to the City Manager rather than to elected officials. That insulates day-to-day operational decisions from political pressure while keeping the position accountable to the city’s top administrator. The City Council does not supervise the chief but exercises leverage through the budget process, since council approval is required for the department’s annual funding and major expenditures.
Internal accountability runs through the Internal Affairs unit, which investigates allegations against employees. Any member of the public can file a complaint, and substantiated findings can lead to discipline up to and including termination.7El Paso Police Department. Internal Affairs Volunteer-staffed Discipline and Shooting Review Boards examine internal cases and officer-involved incidents, and a Citizen’s Advisory Board works with EPPD on community concerns.8El Paso Police Department. Get Involved Together those channels create several pressure points on the chief and the department.
The Department the Chief Runs
EPPD is organized into six regional commands covering the city’s geography: Central, Mission Valley, Northeast, Upper East Side, Pebble Hills, and Westside. Each operates its own station and handles patrol, response, and community engagement in its area.9El Paso Police Department. Locations Specialized units for criminal investigations, internal affairs, and airport operations sit alongside the regional structure.
The FY 2026 preliminary budget allocates about $200.6 million from the general fund and another $24.4 million from non-general fund sources, totaling roughly $225 million.1City of El Paso. FY 2026 Preliminary Budget – Department Updates That is a significant jump from the $158 million the department ran on as recently as 2020, driven largely by rising personnel costs and equipment needs. Spending at that scale, across a department of that size and a city of that geography, is the environment the chief is hired to manage.