The race to attract good police officers in North Texas is leading to hiring shortcuts in some departments. Dallas police are not requiring college credit hours for officers who transfer in from other departments, and in Fort Worth a hearing resumes Tuesday over that department relaxing some rules.
The Fort Worth Police Officers Association accused Chief Joel Fitzgerald of breaking the rules and letting certain officers transfer in from other departments without a full background check or the required "intermediate certification" for a peace officer.
NBC 5 checked with a retired North Texas chief for perspective on hiring qualified officers in a time when recruiting is harder than ever.
It's been a year full of controversy for Fitzgerald, working to satisfy both his officers and the public through some high-profile cases.
Cedar Hill ISD Police Chief James Hawthorne knows that balance well.
"It's lonely at the top," Hawthorne said.
Hawthorne retired as an assistant chief in the Arlington Police Department, where he oversaw hiring new officers.
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"It's difficult, because there are a lot of agencies that are recruiting, and it's competitive," Hawthorne said.
With police tactics under a microscope, recruiting is now harder than ever, and Hawthorne says departments often get creative to bring new officers in quickly.
"But the thing you always have to think about, in my opinion, is 'Am I hiring that next officer that's about to get me fired?'" Hawthorne said. "So I really want to put a lot of scrutiny in that process and making sure that we're doing our due diligence."
The FWPOA accused Fitzgerald of allowing officers to transfer to the department without passing standard requirements. In one case, a transfer officer was accepted without passing a polygraph test.
"It's beyond comprehension. I have never known that to have occurred in the past," said Sgt. Rick Van Houten, president of the FWPOA. "We believe that there are still background investigations on those individuals that have yet to be completed, and we fear that they will never be completed."
Fitzgerald has told NBC 5 in the past that he believes there are other ways to evaluate officers when they come in with years of experience from other departments.
But the police association says he, and two of his top commanders, violated the police contract, and says this is a matter of fairness.
Van Houten told NBC 5 the police association gave Fitzgerald broad latitude to hire officers more easily. But he says there are requirements that can't be skipped.
For its part, a police department spokesman said that all the certification requirements were met by the time the new officers were commissioned and out on the streets.
The hearing continues Wednesday, with Fitzgerald set to testify.
