Realize, of course, association is not in
a position to elect the chief of police.
We know this better than anyone, but we
hopefully we can bring this position
to express its dissatisfaction among its
members to people that are in the
business of appointing the chief.
Several months ago, members of the Fort
Worth Police Department took a vote on
whether they supported police chief AJ
Brown.
The overwhelming majority voted against
Brown. This brought to a head a stormy
relationship between the chief and his
man. Today, the president of the Fort
Worth Police Department's Officers
Association said members of the
organization and the chief have been
talking over problems and they're on
their way to settling some of the
important differences.
Association of the Women assured the city
administrators that the difficulties with
the previously mentioned administrative
policies will be resolved by good faith
discussions with the administration, the
chief of police and the association on
the basis.
Chief Brown said it was Councilman Luis
Zapata and Mayor Hugh Palmer who were key
individuals in opening up the lines of
communication.
It's pretty evident that the mayor and
the reporter played a very important role
in these discussions.
It takes to create a fuss and
it takes two to reconcile.
We had the good offices of the
mayor throughout these discussions,
and with that assistance,
we were able to find
those areas which were really causing the
problems and then to reconcile.
Brown says the department is right now
looking at a new grievance procedure, a
seniority system, and officers
that Bill of Rights, a civil service
testing system and the possibility of pay
for officers called in on off duty time.
All these points are obviously important
in improving officer morale, improving
the relationship between the boss and his
men.
This is Joe Sanchez, the Texas
News. They have just been elected.