Recorded meetings. A secret investigation. What happened before Fort Worth chief’s firing.
Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald was investigating possible corruption by the city before his termination, unbeknownst to even some executive members of his staff, according to city officials.
They also said Fitzgerald was secretly recording meetings.
“It’s highly odd that the chief of police, who’s responsible for criminal investigations, would be doing this without anybody knowing that it’s going on but for him, his own personal reasons,” Assistant City Manager Jay Chapa said in a recent interview with the Star-Telegram.
Fitzgerald’s attorney, Stephen Kennedy, denies the recordings were done in secret. He said Fitzgerald would comment after giving a deposition related to a hearing he is seeking in hopes of reinstatement.
Kennedy said Fitzgerald had asked Officer Mason Fincher, a member of the special investigations unit, to record meetings as part of an investigation into possible corruption by the city and the falsification of information provided to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The investigation was prompted over concerns raised by two information technology employees that the city may have lied to a DPS auditor about its compliance with federal regulations governing access to Criminal Justice Information Services, or CJIS. The federally maintained centralized database gives law enforcement access to tools such as fingerprint identification and national criminal background checks.
Those two employees, William Birchett and Ronald Burke, were fired and have filed whistleblower lawsuits against the city. Fitzgerald filed a similar suit after he was fired in May.
Kennedy said Fincher placed a stand-alone recording device on the middle of a conference room table when recording meetings.
He said, and Burke confirmed, that Fincher’s recording of a meeting on Dec. 21, 2018, even started with “good-natured joking” from the IT department personnel as Fincher had difficulty getting the recorder to turn on.
Chapa, Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus and Assistant Chief Charlie Ramirez said they were unaware that Fitzgerald ordered an investigation. Ramirez said it was not an “official investigation.” He and Kraus were also present during the interview with the Star-Telegram.
Ramirez was over the Special Investigations Unit at the time, and said there is no record of the chief’s investigation.
Kennedy said six police employees, including a deputy chief, knew about the investigation but acknowledged that the chief kept it under wraps from those he did not trust.
City’s compliance with federal rules
At issue is whether employees lied to a DPS auditor regarding the city’s compliance with federal regulations.
Burke, the former assistant director over IT and Birchett’s supervisor, said he and Birchett had discussed several times the importance of Birchett answering truthfully on a DPS survey that the city was not CJIS compliant in several areas.
“It was always very clear that I’m not going to put my integrity or his integrity on the line by answering anything other than truthfully,” Burke said.
He said when the DPS audit began in December 2018, he joined a meeting via phone in which the auditor expressed displeasure that the city was not in compliance with numerous federal regulations that it had previously reported had been addressed. He said the the city was given limited time to fix those issues.
“He flat-out said he felt that he was lied to in previous audits,” Burke said.
But after Birchett was placed on administrative leave, Burke says, a supervisor changed Birchett’s answers on the survey to indicate the city was in compliance in several areas where it was not.
“Unless they suddenly came into several million dollars worth of equipment and hardware and software, I sincerely doubt they’re even in compliance now,” Burke said. “But at the time, we were certainly not in compliance.”
While Birchett and Heather Herriage filled out initial surveys, the final one submitted to DPS is a collaborative effort, and has been for years, IT employees said.
The city provided the Star-Telegram copies of the final survey submitted to DPS, and the state agency’s proposed fixes, in which the city acknowledged that it was not in compliance with all the regulations.
Roger Wright, an IT supervisor, said the city corrected the issues, ultimately passed the audit, and is compliant with the regulations.
Chapa says Birchett and Burke misled the city into believing any CJIS issues had previously been addressed.
“They (IT supervisors) didn’t know there were issues until the auditor was told there was issues,” Chapa said.
Burke says he and Birchett were made scapegoats by the city.
“The city has had every opportunity for years to fix these issues and instead has chosen to work on special projects and anything but security,” Burke said. “Now that they’re caught, now they’re suddenly very focused on security, and it’s all very disingenuous.”
Burke said when previous audits found concerns, he believed the issues had been fixed as was reported to DPS.
But after later realizing they weren’t, Burke asked Birchett to do an assessment.
He said Birchett uncovered the many areas where the city was not in compliance. Burke said he and Birchett prepared a 110-page report on the issues and the needed fixes, which would cost more than $1 million.
He said Kevin Gunn, the city’s acting chief financial officer, made them condense that report for a presentation to Fitzgerald and then indicated they would seek the money.
“I can tell you the money certainly never appeared,” Burke said.
‘No concerns’
Kennedy said that Fitzgerald could not finish his investigation because he was fired. Information, however, has been turned over to the FBI, which is investigating, according to Fitzgerald’s whistleblower lawsuit.
An FBI spokeswoman said Thursday that the agency can neither confirm nor deny that an investigation is ongoing regarding Fort Worth’s CJIS compliance.
After seeing news reports about the CJIS issues, Kraus said he asked staff to reach out to the DPS auditor and the auditor’s supervisor.
“We had him calling here to talk to our city leaders, the city manager’s office and police as well,” Kraus said. “And then I reached out to the FBI myself to make sure there were no issues. If they had concerns that they needed to share with me.
“They met with me, came down to my office ... and told me the were not doing an investigation. That they had met with the chief and his attorney after his termination but they were not conducting an investigation based on what they had.”
When asked if he any concerns regarding the city’s CJIS compliance, Kraus said no.
“I have no concerns after speaking with DPS and the FBI,” Kraus said.
This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Recorded meetings. A secret investigation. What happened before Fort Worth chief’s firing.."
