Dallas has scaled back some of the police protection it was providing at the home of former President George W. Bush — a cut some said was due to financial constraints.
The city has been struggling with a $190 million budget deficit.
Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT reports the three tactical officers assigned to rotating eight-hour shifts will no longer be on the street outside the former president's north Dallas home. The city would save about $300,000 a year with the change.
Officials said in early January that the cost of providing crowd and traffic control at Bush's new home could reach $1 million a year, the Dallas Morning News reported.
"We just had to cut it," the newspaper quoted one unnamed police official as saying. "We’re about to layoff people."
But Police Chief David Kunkle told the Morning News that the department's decision on how to deploy police for security issues doesn't depend on the budget.
"From the time the president got here, we’ve been working with the Secret Service to determine what level of protection was appropriate," he said. "We always knew we would change and adapt."
A Secret Service statement said Dallas police will still be visible part of the former president's security.
Police officials told the Dallas Morning News that if the Secret Service needs their help, Dallas will supply additional police presence as needed.
Click here to read more on this story from the Dallas Morning News.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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