Fort Worth police launch new unit to improve transparency and accountability
The Fort Worth Police Department has unveiled plans for a new Constitutional Policing Unit to enhance transparency and accountability within the department.
The new unit was introduced during a Tuesday morning Public Safety Committee work session at City Hall. Its core functions are to provide structured reviews and inspections to assess policy, training and internal operations to make sure policing is fair and consistent across the city. The unit will perform monthly and quarterly data assessments to identify trends and risks. Finally, it will develop corrective action plans and monitor milestones to ensure compliance.
The Constitutional Policing Unit’s goals are to reduce risks by making sure policy and training changes are implemented as intended, prevent patterns that could expose the department to lawsuits, build community trust, and demonstrate measurable improvement over time.
It will operate under the chief of police within the department’s executive office.
Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia says department leaders want to implement this unit to be proactive and show they care about how they police the community. The new unit will observe policies and procedures to ensure the Police Department is following them and providing law enforcement as it should, Garcia said.
“We need to ensure that we’re always on the front lines, to continue to show our community that the support that you give us, we treat it as a gift, and therefore we always have to study ourselves to ensure that we’re the best police department we can be for our community,” Garcia said.
Garcia implemented a similar program in Dallas in 2023 to ensure the Dallas Police Department was upholding citizens’ rights.
The Constitutional Policing Unit will initially be run by three individuals, including a full-time director who will lead strategy, reviews and reporting. There will be a lieutenant who serves as a liaison between civilians and the rest of the Police Department and coordinates implementation across various units. There also will be a part-time criminologist in residence, who will be an expert in analytical data and quality assurance.
The new unit will complement the Office of the Police Oversight Monitor, which operates independently of the Police Department and provides an impartial check on Fort Worth police. While the Office of the Police Oversight Monitor provides an independent civilian oversight, the Constitutional Policing Unit will be an internal mechanism that focus on the behaviors of officers within the Fort Worth Police Department.
“We know that we have different lenses of how we’re approaching that work, and the outcome for both of them is what we want to see for the city, sustained policy and procedural improvement within the Police Department, and independent accountability and public trust,” said Bonycle Sokunbi, director of the Office of the Police Oversight Monitor.
Garcia said they are working with the city attorney to determine what data and information will be available for the public but want to be as transparent as possible for the community.
The new policing unit aims to officially launch early next year.
This story was originally published December 2, 2025 at 2:59 PM.
