DC Talks

The recent firing of a Fort Worth Police officer for misconduct, using profanity and racial slurs is the tip of the iceberg.
Underneath the incident are shining examples of the kinds of verbal abuse and brutality that are happening on a regular basis in neighborhoods.
This hidden cancer is growing because city officials fail to listen to the people on the streets being disrespected, harassed and mistreated by the Fort Worth Police Department.
Officer Trini Feggett was fired after being caught on camera and audio saying and doing things unbecoming of a police officer.
According to a report, on a shift last September, the officer used obscene language, racial slurs while on patrolling the Black neighborhood and allegedly engaged in a race with another police car.
Feggett, used the term “nigger” when confronting and asking a person sitting in the back of a pickup truck about selling weed. It was reported that later while driving through the Caville housing project, he got involved in an argument with a citizen and used racial slurs, threats and obscenities and sexually explicit statements.
The issue here is not Feggett. It is deeper than the incident where a camera was left on a police officer was caught doing and saying inappropriate things.
It is what is not seen on camera and the stories that are told in the neighborhoods of police officers abusing power and using threats and intimidation to push their “power and control agenda” on Fort Worth streets. That is the real issue here.
I can remember that in August 2005, AAN&I had a sit down discussion with Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief. One of the topics in question from the community dealt with the issue of how some Black and White Fort Worth police officers working predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods talk to, handle and deal with Black people.
At that time he gave the Black community his word that the Fort Worth Police Department had a group of the “nation’s finest” patrolling its streets and that no officer to his knowledge had ever dishonored or mistreated a citizen.
It was discussed that matters reported to the internal affairs department are not taken as seriously or investigated as thoroughly and professionally as should be… and the failure to settle issues quickly, appropriately and to the satisfaction of residents is appalling.
In one instance, one man was singled out by a Fort Worth police officer after leaving a discount store. The officers allegedly identified him as a member of a protest group. He was beaten and roughed up, cuffed and tossed into a patrol car and taken to jail. The man later needed medical treatment for his injuries. He later filed a complaint with Fort Worth Police Department Internal Affairs Department, but all his information, tapes and recordings mysteriously disappeared and the case has been placed unresolved on the back burner.
In another report, police officers rode through a Black neighborhood and like Feggett, cursed and yelled at young Black bystanders standing outside at night.
In another case, a woman ended up dead after police grabbed her and used force to subdue her. According to reports, she had not committed a crime, nor did she threaten anyone. – and that is to name a few.
Moncrief said he had confidence that Chief Ralph Mendoza was capable of dealing with any problems and urged citizens to step forward with any complaints of verbal assaults, abuses, intimidation or any other acts unbecoming of a police officer.
When confronted, Mendoza told AAN&I at a recent community forum that he will take any power abuses on the streets seriously and again encouraged all information and complaints to be turned over to the internal affairs department.
Something is not working because for AAN&I, the “hits” (complaints) keep coming in and people are reporting problems with police officers in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
They talk of threats, heavy handedness, obscenities and slurs being a common part of the police vocabulary and tactics. Officers are using these measures on the streets to badger the people they don’t like or who they perceive to be a threat because of the stereotypes against younger Blacks and Hispanics.
As for internal affairs, some are discouraged because some who have gone to internal affairs don’t see progress on their complaints, while others report that they have been told that alleged audio and video problems in recording the cases have prevented officers from moving forward with their cases.
Again we raise the issue that Fort Worth and other cities and about whether police have “chips” on their shoulders. It also seems that their alleged “rage,” brutal treatment and harsh words are targeted at African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities.
AAN&I wonders whether every one who files should take his or her own recorder into interviews with internal affairs to ensure that discussions are recorded for posterity. Maybe that office is not really doing its audio and video recordings/ interviews in the first place. Hmmmm…
Maybe that member of a local “street organization” was right when he told me that cops are just another “gang” running and terrorizing the streets and neighborhoods with their own form of justice in mind.
He added that many can be vigilantes and retaliate against anyone at will and the citizen has little recourse and that appears to be happening in Fort Worth far too much.
When you see a police car, it is suppose to be a sign of safety and security. We do not expect hidden psychological agendas, prejudices or people driving around with personal scores to settle on our streets. Police officers say they want respect. Well, the best way to do that is to respect the total rights of citizens and not overreact to every situation. Escalating a situation, choking, hurting or killing someone or making things worse because you have a badge is uncalled for and disrespectful.
Chief Mendoza is not seeing or is ignoring the attitudes that are breeding more hatred, distrust and tension on the streets and makes it difficult for anyone to communicate, cooperate or build any faith and trust in those sworn to “protect and serve”.
We should be able to venture into your neighborhoods or businesses without being targeted for torment, death or terrorized by some police officers personal demons, stereotypes and prejudices. It is time to face the facts that some of those who take oaths to protect and serve actually are going far beyond the norms of law in restraining and detaining citizens.
This underscores the need for Mayor Moncrief and Police Chief Ralph Mendoza to maybe think about ways to make the streets safer from the police… and you know what I mean.