Subscribe to Breaking NewsFort Worth Police To Implement New, Stricter Policies
, Contributing writer 08.19.2009 6:30pm EDT
Police Chief Jeff Halsted has announced new policies for bar inspections and raids after its disastrous raid on the Rainbow Lounge that left customer Chad Gibson in the hospital with severe head injuries.
The new policy will make clearer distinctions between checks, inspections and raids. The Fort Worth Police Department will also appoint an LGBT community liaison and require more sensitivity training of its officers.
The Associate Press has a fuller version of the story, but it seems to draw its accounts of the night’s events almost entirely from the police with almost no time given to what the bar patrons say happened.
So this is Chief Halsted’s way to avoid apology? Nope. He was wrong, and his position demands maintaining trust with ALL citizens. Halsted is the police chief, and this happened on his watch. New standards don’t do a damn thing to change the inappropriate conduct of officers on the scene. This isn’t over.