Fort Worth mayor wrong to blame former chief for pairing rookie police officers
As taxpayers, it’s our business to know the truth. Elected officials and public servants have a basic obligation to speak with accuracy.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price violated this fundamental tenet of good governance by making factually inaccurate statements during a recent interview with NBC5.
Regarding the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson by a rookie police officer, Price said: “One thing I do have some concerns about … is the pairing of two rookies together, particularly on a late-night shift. That was done under the former chief.”
Price stated that under former Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, the department began to pair inexperienced officers together on late-night patrols as a way to reward more experienced officers with better hours.
That is untrue. Fort Worth Police Department had been policing in this way long before Dr. Fitzgerald was hired. City staff, the mayor and City Council members authorized it.
Under state law, cities can reach a “meet and confer” agreement, which sets out policies on personnel matters, with local law enforcement. Fort Worth adopted such agreements in 2008, 2013 and 2017.
Dating back to at least the second agreement, the city manager and city attorney agreed to inclusion of a provision that “officers in the rank of lieutenant and below may assert seniority preference for unit and shift assignment.” Members of the City Council, including Price, voted twice to accept the agreement inclusive of that provision.
Fitzgerald was hired in late 2015. While staffing is influenced by other factors as well, the meet and confer provision on seniority pre-dates him by at least two years. Fort Worth officers confirm the informal practice goes back even further.
These false assertions about Fitzgerald absolve City Manager David Cooke, as well as Price and other council members, of responsibility for the factors that helped lead to Jefferson’s death. They knew assigning rookie officers on late night shifts was problematic after the shooting death of Jerry Waller in 2013 and could have negotiated to remove the seniority provision in the latest agreement.
Price’s remarks also absolve the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, which negotiates on behalf of officers. That’s who lobbies for provisions – not the police chief. Of note, several City Council members have accepted sizable campaign contributions from the police association. Councilwoman Gyna Bivens alone has accepted more than $80,000.
The mayor’s statements also uphold structural racism. Inaccurate information has been used to falsely cast aspersions on the city’s first and only black police chief, while hailing the interim police chief – a white man — as saving the day by reversing a policy. Price planted the seed that black leadership equals incompetency and negligence, while white leadership can be trusted.
Laying the blame for Jefferson’s death at Fitzgerald’s feet also distracts from a criminal justice system that was built on white supremacy and causes over-policing of black communities.
These insinuations are how systems of oppression work.
The mayor’s office said this week that she was referring to the “influx of new officers in patrol due to the numerous recruit classes added to the force under prior leadership and ... the need for more senior-level police officers available during all shifts.”
That’s not good enough. Untruthfulness erodes public trust and denies justice to Atatiana Jefferson. Price must immediately retract her remarks and acknowledge the responsibility of city staff, City Council and the police association in allowing a departmental practice that helped lead to Jefferson’s death.