Fort Worth police officer resigns after 2 domestic violence arrests, department says
A Fort Worth police officer resigned on Wednesday shortly after he was arrested in connection with a domestic violence incident in Burleson, his second such offense within two months, the department announced.
Joe Collins, a 10-year veteran of the department, was first arrested on Feb. 8. The Burleson Police Department charged him with assault with bodily injury-family member, and Fort Worth police placed him on restrictive duty status. That meant he lost his gun and his badge, and his powers as a police officer were suspended.
As Burleson police and the Fort Worth internal affairs division investigated the crime, they learned Collins was previously involved in another domestic violence incident, Fort Worth police said in a news release. He was arrested in connection with that incident on Wednesday.
Collins submitted his resignation not long after his arrest and Chief Neil Noakes accepted it. Noakes, though, “would have fired Collins had he not resigned,” police said in the release.
“The Fort Worth Police Department takes allegations of domestic abuse very seriously and we do not condone this type of behavior, especially involving a member of our department,” the release read. “We have very high standards for our personnel and we will continue to hold them accountable.”
The resignation of Collins follows a flurry of recent firings within the Fort Worth Police Department, with four officers terminated in February and March.
Two officers were fired for “racially insensitive” social media posts. Another officer was fired after he was caught stealing from Walmart, and another officer was fired following his arrest on a charge of driving while intoxicated with a child in the vehicle.
