Fort Worth’s police monitor has made suggestions. Here’s the latest on citizen review
Fort Worth’s relatively new police monitor, Kim Neal, said she will make it easier for residents to engage in how their neighborhoods are policed and wants officers to be involved in communities beyond strictly enforcing the laws.
She also urged residents to be patient as her office forms a community oversight board for the police department and rolls out policy recommendations.
Neal started with the city in March with a robust plan to hold town hall listening sessions and meet one-on-one with community leaders and police officers. The coronavirus pandemic jumbled that, but Neal has met with 150 groups, mostly virtually. She has also begun to review police policies and take complaints and inquires from the public. Her office has received 110 complaints since March and has 10 under active review.
She told the Star-Telegram ahead of a council briefing that the resounding thing she’s heard from residents is a desire to have more direct say in how police engage with their communities. People expect all officers, not just the neighborhood patrol officers, to be actively involved in the neighborhoods they patrol, she said.
By October Neal would like to have developed a “best fit” model for the citizen review board, a key recommendations from the Race and Culture Task Force.
In Cincinnati, where Neal was previously police monitor, members of the citizen review board were appointed based on police patrol divisions. Those members required extensive training, including participating in ride-alongs, and background checks that could take up to three months.
That’s not necessarily how Fort Worth’s board would work, but Neal said it was important for residents eager for the board to be set up to know that it would take some time to form properly.
“‘It’s not going to please everybody, of course, but we are going to start out with something and then really we’re just going to have to have to develop it ... personalize it to the city of Fort Worth after talking to stakeholders,” she said.
Two surveys are being analyzed by a third party. A survey of the community’s perception of the department had nearly 4,000 responses. A similar survey for officers had nearly 900 responses. Neal said the results will be available by the end of the month and will help her form recommendations for how to improve the relationship between officers and the community.
Neal has already made some suggestions.
One key takeaway from discussions with community groups is a feeling that officers should be trained in the history and culture of the neighborhoods they patrol, so they have a better understanding of the people they serve. About 60% of Fort Worth officers live outside the city.
“Police officers want to be accepted by those communities and looked at as people and not just as police officers,” she said. “So I think that by doing something like this, it helps both parties kind of understand each other better.”
She has also streamlined the complaint process. Previously complaints were generated through two different processes in the police department. Some complaints were simply labeled a community contact. Now her office has access to all complaints through a uniform tracking system that she recommended.
Her office sits on the department’s use-of-force review board and will be make recommendations regarding the use-of-force policy. She has suggested the department develop a foot chase policy, she said.
Neal plans to provide routine reports to the council and will have her first annual report available in April. The police monitor website, https://fortworthtexas.gov/opom/, allows people to make a complaint against an officer, compliment an officer and review her reports. She wants to be able to display data and other information on the site.
The City Council heard her first report Friday during a work session focused on policing funding and diversity programs.
During City Council meetings and police-related protests, the police monitor has been criticized for being a part of the city manager’s office. Speakers have argued that makes her less independent than if she was within her own department.
Neal said it’s likely her office will grow so much it will become its own office. She said the city manager’s staff has not interfered with her work and she has been allowed to work freely.
“My perception of you from our meetings is you’re not going to allow that,” Mayor Betsy Price told Neal.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 4:52 PM.
