Mayor wrong to suggest ex-police chief Fitzgerald started pairing rookie officers, he says
Former Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said that Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price should apologize for statements she made attributing the policy of pairing inexperienced police officers to him.
Fitzgerald addressed Price’s October interview with NBC DFW during an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday. He noted that Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said during a deposition that the policy of pairing rookie police officers existed before Fitzgerald assumed the Fort Worth police chief’s position.
During the Kraus deposition, which was conducted because of a whistleblower lawsuit Fitzgerald filed contesting the reasons for his firing, the interim chief is asked whether the meet and confer agreement the Fort Worth Police Officers Association has with the city allows officers with the most seniority to select what shifts they work.
Kraus answers “yes” and goes on to say that it was that way before Fitzgerald was chief, after Fitzgerald was chief and is that way today. Kraus said in the deposition that the officers who pair police officer assignments every day are the sergeants.
“Did Chief Fitzgerald start any kind of policy or initiate any kind of policy where rookies are paired with each other during late night shifts?” Fitzgerald’s attorney Stephen Kennedy asked Kraus during the deposition.
Kraus replies that he is not aware of that, and says that it’s not accurate to attribute the concept of pairing rookies in Fort Worth to Fitzgerald, according to the transcript of the deposition.
Price told an NBC reporter she was concerned about the practice of pairing rookie police officers together on patrol, particularly because two police officers — each with 18 months of experience — responded to an open structure call that resulted in an officer fatally shooting a 28-year-old black woman, Atatiana Jefferson, in her home.
In response to Fitzgerald’s request for an apology, the mayor’s office replied with a statement saying that her staff was glad Fitzgerald had recovered from the illness that precluded him from participating in a court-order deposition Tuesday, and he was able to make statements to the press.
“Mayor Price’s comment combined two important issues into the conversation – one being the influx of new officers in patrol due to the numerous recruit classes added to the force under prior leadership and two, the need for more senior-level police officers available during all shifts, a sentiment she has personally heard from numerous officers,” her office’s statement said.
“To that end, Chief Kraus is moving more experience to patrol on all shifts in all sectors of the city. This is being accomplished by reallocating seasoned officers from specialized units and assigning said officers on 30 to 90-day rotations in patrol.”
The Fort Worth officer who shot and killed Jefferson, Aaron Dean, never properly identified himself as a police officer, according to police and body camera video of the shooting.
Dean and another officer were called to Jefferson’s house on Oct. 12 at the behest of a neighbor who found it unusual that doors to the residence were left open early that Saturday morning. The two officers crept up to the house through the back yard using flashlights before they encountered Jefferson, who was inside paying video games with her nephew.
Jefferson, hearing noises and thinking there was a prowler outside, got a handgun out of her purse and looked out a window, according to a warrant charging Dean with murder. Dean yelled at Jefferson to put her hands up and shot her through the window less than a second later, the video shows.
Price and others have referred to the fatal shooting as a result of rookie mistakes.
Fitzgerald said that just because officers are inexperienced does not necessarily mean they are unable to professionally handle the situations to which they respond.
“I would hope that once an officer graduates the academy and is cut loose that they are able to be officers who are independent and able to provide proper services,” Fitzgerald said.
Officers are also able to call upon the expertise of their field supervisors for advice or assistance.
But in response to the suggestion that pairing inexperienced officers on late-night patrol duty began under Fitzgerald’s tenure, he said, “the reality is that is simply untrue and has proven to be untrue by their (the city’s) own representative. This is something that she (Price) should apologize for or walk back.”
Apparently, Price did not get a clear picture of how shift assignments are handled, according to Fitzgerald. Those assignments are made by command staff and depend on seniority preferences and the available personnel.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 7:50 PM.
