Woman who investigated police misconduct in Cincinnati named Fort Worth police monitor
Kim Neal has been chosen as Fort Worth’s new police monitor and will be leading efforts to independently review the policies and procedures at the Fort Worth Police Department, the city announced Friday.
“We look forward to working with Kim Neal to develop Fort Worth’s program for independent review of the police department in order to increase trust between the community and the department,” City Manager David Cooke said. “We will be relying on Kim’s vast knowledge and experience as we move forward to implement best practices for independent review of police.”
Neal is executive director for the Citizens Complaint Authority in Cincinnati, where she has overseen investigations of serious misconduct allegations against Cincinnati police officers. Investigations into why shots were fired by police officers, deaths in custody, uses of force and improper procedures all fell within Neal’s watch.
The ultimate goal was to address resident concerns and improve resident perceptions of the Cincinnati Police Department, according to the news release from the City of Fort Worth.
“We can’t sit around and just complain about an issue and not be ready to do something about it,” Neal has said in the past. “I’m also the person saying — listening to the problem — ‘OK, well how do you want to help resolve the problem?’ I like to be the person in the room getting those parties together.”
Neal made those comments during a community forum where four other candidates for the Fort Worth police monitor’s job were interviewed by community members.
Two new city positions — the police monitor and the diversity and inclusion director — are the result of recommendations from Fort Worth’s Race and Culture Task Force. Those recommendations followed the 2016 arrest of Jacqueline Craig that sparked calls of excessive force and racism.
Those concerns have persisted, in part because of seven officer-involved shootings in the city since June 1 — including the Oct. 12 fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman, by Aaron Dean, a white police officer who resigned and has been indicted on a murder charge.
The firm Mackenzie Eason & Associates considered around 200 candidates for the police monitor job and eventually narrowed that down to five, according to managing partner Darien George. He noted there are only 26 people who hold positions like this across the country and four of them were candidates.
Prior to the Citizens Complaint Authority, Neal held several other senior-level positions in other major cities in the areas of policy, employment, higher education, compliance, ethics, privacy and information disclosure in the public sector at different levels of government, and in the private sector in the fields of utilities, government contracting and legal.
Neal also served as professor of legal studies at the University of Maryland University College in Adelphi, Md.
Neal earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University and juris doctorate from University of Baltimore School of Law. In addition, she has certifications in compliance and ethics.
Neal is a volunteer Court-Appointed Special Advocate in Hamilton County, Ohio. She is an active member of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Ethics and Compliance Initiative and Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.
Neal is expected to begin work in Fort Worth by early March 2020.
This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.
