Continued attacks on FW police chief should stop

Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald has finally concluded the leak investigation involving a Fort Worth police officer’s body-cam video and personnel file.

Last week he demoted Assistant Chief Abdul Pridgen and Deputy Chief Vance Keyes in connection with the leaks of Officer William Martin’s personnel information.

Martin’s inappropriate behavior involving the arrests of Jacqueline Craig and her two daughters last December was overshadowed by the police department’s internal probe.

It should have been the other way around.

While the December arrest garnered local and national outrage for its racial angle — Martin is white and the Craigs are black — the leak investigation quickly became the focus of local activists who accused Fitzgerald of targeting the senior African-American officers.

Such attacks are unfair.

In a press conference, the police chief — who is also black — explained that after a “thorough and exhaustive” investigation, it was determined the confidential files were downloaded to an external hard drive from Pridgen’s computer and video evidence showed that he and Keyes were in his office when the files were downloaded — facts both later confirmed.

Fitzgerald, who appeared candid and pained, said his decision to demote the officers was “not without … heartache” but that both men, whom he trusted, had a “unique duty” to protect the information they were accused of making public.

Keyes and Pridgen both deny any involvement in the leak, and it is unclear if they or Fitzgerald will take further action.

What is clear is that the attacks on Fitzgerald for demoting Keyes and Pridgen is unacceptable.

Fitzgerald’s punishment of Martin was inadequate, but given the evidence presented in the leak case, his treatment of the officers seems justified.

The chief needs a team of police leaders he can trust and rely upon to act professionally, even in circumstances where they disagree with his decisions.

And the FWPD has been forthcoming with the results of its thorough, albeit protracted, investigation.

If more information is uncovered, it should be released.

But unless and until that happens, his decision should be accepted and attacks on his character should stop.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Continued attacks on FW police chief should stop."