Fort Worth

New Fort Worth Chief Officially Takes Command

Fort Worth's new police chief is officially in command.

Joel Fitzgerald becomes the 27th police chief in Cowtown's history, and the first African-American to hold the job.

He starts the job not long after racial issues caused major issues within the department in recent years.

The new era under the chief is something that brought out numerous officers, city officials and members of the public to welcome him Tuesday.

"Getting the first black, African-American chief here, it's very exciting," said Chester Shepert.

Chester and Gloria Shepert have been volunteers with the police department's Code Blue for 21 years and they weren't about to miss this historic change of command.

"It gives me joy," Chester Shepert said.

Fitzgerald's arrival comes a year after a critical report was released that highlighted three racial incidents within the department. The most notorious being a snowman with a noose around its neck outside a police building.

The internal racial strife is something that outgoing Interim Police Chief Rhonda Robertson raised in her comments at the change of command ceremony, emphasizing that moving on from them is something the new chief will have to continue addressing.

"It really takes time to rebuild trust and restore strong family ties, but I believe the department has made great strides over the past several months," Robertson said.

There are three federal discrimination lawsuits pending against the city and former Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead, who retired late last year.

One of those federal lawsuits is filed, in part, by Sgt. Roy Hudson who is the president of the Fort Worth Black Police Officers' Association. Hudson told NBC 5 by phone Tuesday that he's looking forward to working with the new chief. As for fixing the racial issues, he said the new chief's race doesn't matter only his actions. Hudson added that Robertson had done an excellent job during her tenure in that regard.

"Whether I was black, white, red or brown, it's about doing a good job for the city of Fort Worth," Fitzgerald said.

The new chief said he's aware of those issues but plans on bringing people together both in the community and within officer ranks to make a difference.

"You start assigning tasks, you make sure we're working on goals together," he said. "Whether you're meeting with the POA (police officers' association), the Black Police Officers Association, Latino Police Officers Association, we all have to work together to move this agency forward."

For city leaders the goal was not to heal those racial problems through Fitzgerald's hiring, although he did answer those questions in a way the council felt confident, according to Mayor Betsy Price.

"It isn't that he's African-American, it's that he's the best candidate," Price said.

That's something even those excited to see the first African-American chief agree with.

"That he's doing a good job, that's the thing," said Gloria Shepert. "And that he'll be able to communicate with the people and the people that he works with, that's the most important thing."

Last year the city implemented the Three E-Plan, for Equity, Equality, Everyone. It's a strategy to improve race relations within the department and between officers and the community. It's a plan the new chief will continue.

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