In an NBC 5 exclusive, a Fort Worth Police Department report reveals how all of the department's investigating officers are measuring up.
Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald ordered the internal review after one detective from the Crimes Against Children unit was found to have ignored leads that could have led to an arrest.
In the new report, most of the violent crime units fared well, but there are two detectives in the Robbery unit with seven or eight problems noted out of 10 cases reviewed.
Overall, Fort Worth police supervisors reviewed 1,582 cases and found that just about 40 of them had significant issues that needed to be fixed.
When you're the victim of a crime, you want to know that police will do everything they can to make it right. Fort Worth police say the results of the internal audit out Thursday prove that's happening in more than 97 percent of their cases.
"Our detectives are out doing work, they are investigating cases properly," said Fort Worth Police Sgt. Mark Povero.
Every detective had 10 randomly-chosen cases reviewed by their supervisor. There were several minor clerical issues, addressed with some extra training. But 40 of the 1,582 cases reviewed had more serious problems.
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"Possibly a detective didn't notify a victim within a certain amount of time, cases that possibly had workable leads that were not followed up on," Povero said.
Here's a breakdown in some of the biggest investigative units:
In Crimes Against Children, where the audit stems from, just one detective has to follow up with a victim in two cases, after too much time has passed.
Domestic Violence lists four cases that need to be addressed or reopened and investigated.
Robbery has 18 issues noted and 15 of those come from just two out of 13 detectives in the unit.
The Sex Crimes, Major Case and Homicides units all list no issues found.
The detectives with more serious issues are getting extra training and in some cases supervisory coaching. NBC 5 hasn't heard of any facing disciplinary action.
Meanwhile the audit will be handed over to the special investigations unit to look for a broader fix.
"They will go through it with a fine-tooth comb and they will find out why some of these issues came up and then suggest changes in policy maybe, or just changes in the way investigations are done to improve service," Povero said.
Part of the review will be to check if any officer is carrying too heavy of a case load.
Going forward, even if there is nothing to go on in a lower-level case, supervisors are now telling detectives to call every single victim, tell them where the investigation stands, and ask them to get in contact if they have any new information to move the case forward.
If you've been a victim of a crime in Fort Worth and want to see if your case is included in the audit, see the documents below.
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