FT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF) – FT. Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald has been fired.
The move comes after he had an argument with the president of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas during Police Week in Washington D-C. “Our conversation with Chief multiple times has been that you are always representing the city of Fort Worth…that was probably not the time to take on that issue,” Said City Manager David Cooke.
Cooke said his decision was not just based off of Fitzgerald’s behavior at the event, it was part of a series of incidents even before talks of Fitzgerald moving to Baltimore to be the top cop there. “As an isolated incident no, as a series of incidents it becomes the time where you say maybe it’s time for change,” Cooke said.
Executive Assistant Chief Edwin Kraus has been designated as interim Chief of Police.
Fitzgerald joined the department in October 2015. There has been reported tension in the department after Fitzgerald applied for and lost a chance to become police commissioner in Baltimore.
Statements from Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price on the decision to fire Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald @WBAP247NEWS @570KLIF pic.twitter.com/MQzrBv8Wgc
— Katrina Boonzaier (@katrinaboonz) May 20, 2019
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