The city of Fort Worth has hired a crisis communications company to help deal with a controversy at the police department that started with a viral video of a mother's arrest and led to a leak investigation and the suspensions of two top commanders.
City Manager David Cooke said the city has hired The LeMaster Group in Dallas for six months at a cost of $37,500.
In an email, Cooke said company owner Lisa LeMaster will “assist us with a number of issues regarding communications.”
The controversy started in December when Officer William Martin arrested a woman who had complained her neighbor choked her 8 year old son for littering in his yard.
The officer, who was later suspended for 10 days, asked her why she didn’t teach her son not to litter and suggested the neighbor had the right to grab him.
Cell phone video taken by Craig’s daughter was viewed millions of times on social media.
The mother, Jacqueline Craig, and her supporters have protested, repeatedly demanding that Martin be fired and charged with a crime.
Charges against Craig were later dropped and the neighbor was charged with misdemeanor assault.
The case took another twist recently when an assistant chief and deputy chief were placed on detached duty amid a criminal investigation into who leaked Officer Martin’s body camera footage and documents from his confidential personnel file.
LeMaster is a well-known communications consultant in Dallas. She has recently been hired by Dallas County Schools to deal with fallout from a financial mismanagement scandal.
LeMaster’s website bills her as an expert In crisis communications.
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“Crises happen even to good companies and causes,” the website says. It offers to help customers “develop a crisis communications plan. It’s an important exercise to ‘war-game’ likely or unlikely events.”
