After the announcement today about the Fort Worth Bar Raid, I think it’s about time we had a frank discussion about police officers. Throughout LGBT history in the United States, the gay/trans community has been pitted against police. It’s police, in fact, who inspire our holiest of high holidays: Pride.  The clashes are universal, span from coast to coast and need to stop.

But it’s not suspensions and internal reports that are going to end this problem.

To be a police officer in Fort Worth, TX one must have completed high school or achieved a G.E.D. And that’s it. No diploma from a community college. No college degree. No Masters program in criminology or forensics or law. Then officers are trained, by the police force rather than an independent body.

A Lieutenant in the Fort Worth police department gets paid $36,000 a year.

But police officers are outfitted with guns, given immense amounts of power and asked to make sophisticated legal decisions in an instant. Are we surprised that they screw up a lot? Are we surprised that the people they recruit are not the most open-minded, educated members of a community?

The Fort Worth police department wants to solve this problem by doling out a few suspensions or by instituting training that considers the rights and experiences of LGBT community members.

I think there’s no chance the Fort Worth Texas police force, or pretty much any police force, is going to improve their relationship with the LGBT community until we start insisting the officers get more life experience and academic training, the salaries increase to be competitive with degree requirements and the force itself start to take its job seriously enough that bare minimum standards just aren’t good enough anymore.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said agent Christopher Aller and agent trainee Jason Chapman, who participated in the June 28 raid at the Rainbow Lounge, were fired Friday. Their supervisor, Sgt. Terry Parsons, was not at the Fort Worth bar that night but also was fired, effective Sept. 2.

Aller and Chapman failed to report that they used force when arresting the customer or that he was seriously injured, according to a report on the agency’s investigation released earlier this month. They also were accused of participating in the raid without their supervisor’s approval, disrupting the business during the raid and wearing improper attire, the report states.

Parsons failed to ensure that the agents submitted a report on using force during the arrest, did not take appropriate action after learning they didn’t wear proper attire and did not notify supervisors that multiple arrests had been made that night, the report states.

The commission said Parsons’ direct supervisor, Lt. Gene Anderson, would be suspended without pay for three days and be on probation for six months, and Capt. Robert “Charlie” Cloud, who oversees the Dallas and Fort Worth TABC offices, has received a written reprimand. Both inadequately monitored new agents’ training and inadequately supervised Fort Worth employees and their activities, the agency said.

In announcing the disciplinary actions, the agency’s chief of field operations, Joel Moreno, said he was confident that Anderson and Cloud could make the necessary improvements.

“The first step is by working more closely with their employees, mentoring them and serving as positive role models by exemplifying the agency’s four cornerstones: service, courtesy, integrity, and accountability,” Moreno said in a statement. “It is essential that every employee understands our core value: We do the right thing, not what we have the right to do.”

TABC Administrator Alan Steen, who will make the final decision on any appeals, was not available to comment Friday, agency spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said.

The five may protest their disciplinary actions by submitting a written grievance in the next 10 working days.

Aller, who had worked for the agency for five years, and Chapman, who was hired in April, had been on desk duty during the investigation. Parsons had planned to retire Sept. 2 after completing 20 years with the agency but had been using vacation time.

Phone numbers for the fired employees could not be found Friday. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Officers Association has not been asked to provide representation for the three, president Darryl Darnell said Friday.

Another sergeant will be transferred from Fort Worth to the Dallas office next week “for the betterment of the agency and to create change in the office,” but that is not considered disciplinary action, Beck said.

Aller and Chapman accompanied six Fort Worth police officers to the Rainbow Lounge in what police billed as a routine liquor license inspection for a new business. Six people were arrested for public intoxication, and one patron, Chad Gibson, suffered a severe head injury while in the agents’ custody, the agency and police have said.

Gibson, who was hospitalized for a week, has said he has a blood clot behind his right eye.

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead has said authorities set out to inspect the bar that night. But he acknowledged the visit somewhat resembled a raid because some police officers ran inside, responding to an officer’s two distress calls seeking help with a customer resisting arrest. The two TABC agents were wearing improper attire – shirts that said “state police” instead of coats and ties – and they didn’t tell the owner they were conduction an inspection, the agency said.

Since the raid, the agency has changed several policies – including how it uses force in certain situations – and is shortening agents’ shifts, increasing cultural diversity training and reviewing the agent trainee field training program, Moreno said.

“Most of these were not as a direct result of this incident, but we hope they will prevent a similar incident from happening,” Beck said Friday.

The raid led to numerous protest marches and rallies by gay rights groups, which demanded independent investigations. Some said the bar was targeted because it catered to a gay clientele, and some patrons said they were scared during the raid because agents used excessive force.

A group formed after the raid, Fairness Fort Worth, said Friday that the disciplinary actions and policy changes were appropriate.

“Fairness Fort Worth appreciates TABC’s strong commitment to instituting changes that result in better trained agents and improvements to services for all Texas communities,” spokesman Jon Nelson said in a statement.

A report addressing whether the agents’ use of force was appropriate during the raid is expected to be released in September.

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.

Chief Jeff Halstead told the City Council that problems happened at the Rainbow Lounge in the early morning hours of June 28 because the department’s bar inspection policy lacked specific guidelines, which he said was why no policies were violated.

He said a revised policy should be in place by Sept. 1 with rules for a three tiered-system: bar checks, inspections and investigations.

The department is also trying to mend its relationship with the gay community – which held several protest marches after the raid – by having meetings, appointing an officer as a liaison and providing more diversity training to officers, Halstead said.

“Once the policy is complete, we’re never going to come here again,” he said after giving his preliminary report on the investigation into the raid. “We are recovering from this, and I’m very proud of that.”

A final report should be finished in late September or October, Halstead said. It will include the department’s findings on whether allegations against some officers – including excessive force and unprofessional conduct – are justified and any recommended disciplinary actions.

Gay rights groups initially demanded independent investigations, saying the bar was targeted because it catered to a gay clientele. Police have denied the accusation.

Halstead told the council that Fort Worth police decided to inspect the Rainbow Lounge and two other bars – in an area known for having many public intoxication arrests – a day after Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent and a Fort Worth officer arrested a man who was passed out in his car a block from the lounge.

Fort Worth police then led the inspection – not the state agency, as officials first reported – with five officers and one sergeant, and the TABC had two agents, Halstead said.

He said most of the six people who were arrested that night were taken into custody without any problems after officers saw indications they were drunk.

But in one case, officers saw the TABC agents struggling with a man later identified as Chad Gibson, Halstead said. A Fort Worth officer tried to help by applying a pressure-point technique on his face, but when that didn’t work the agents took Gibson to the ground, Halstead said.

After Gibson was handcuffed, he was stumbling while walking on his own with an officer, Halstead said. Another witness confirmed the TABC agent’s statements that Gibson fell and hit his head on the ground while he was standing by a police van, Halstead said.

Gibson was hospitalized for a week but has said he has a blood clot behind his right eye.

Halstead said he called Gibson’s father shortly after the incident, apologized that he was injured and promised to do a thorough investigation.

Halstead acknowledged Tuesday that while authorities set out to inspect the bar, what happened that night may have resembled a raid in some ways.

“I am apologizing for the actions and the reflection that this gave our community because they perceived it as a bar raid … and that was not our intent,” Halstead said.

A report released by TABC said two agents were wearing improper attire – “state police” shirts – and those agents are accused of violating the agency’s policies including not telling the owner they were conduction an inspection.

Some Fort Worth officers also ran inside the Rainbow Lounge just before 2 a.m. after an officer sent two distress calls 18 seconds apart on his police radio asking for help with a customer resisting arrest, Halstead said.

“Hey – I need help in here. … I’m by the restroom,” one officer said, sounding breathless, according to audiotape of the calls obtained by The Associated Press under the Texas Open Records Act.

Halstead said when the department got the second distress call, the situation became more urgent.

“I’ll be honest. The officers probably had adrenaline running in their veins, and they were probably excited. … All of us that wear this uniform have been there when you enter in after two distress calls are put out. You really don’t know what’s going on,” he said.

The internal investigation is still going on, and the Fort Worth city council has asked the Dallas U.S. attorney’s office to investigate as well.

The TABC agents involved were not scheduled to be taking part in any raids, and in fact were supposed to be supervising a motorcross event.

The TABC is still investigating the incident that left Chad Gibson in the hospital with a brain injury. The TABC agents and police officers involved say that they used force after Gibson slapped or groped one of the officers in the groin, but multiple witnesses at the bar say that no such thing happened, and the officers had no physical provocation.

Read the full story in the Dallas News.

1. I’m no expert (yet), but panhandling strikes me as a profession that requires a soft sell.

2. Do all Oklahoma politicians dance with the crazy?

3. Is it a good idea to keep allies from joining the federal lawsuit for gay marriage?

4. A Merlose Place redux? The first one stank. What TV executive green lighted this wreck?

5. Israeli Army soldier Shmuel Freimark’s lawyer needs to come up with a better excuse for his client’s madness. Threats to kill because your tribe is getting bad press is a dumb tactic.

6. The initial TABC report shows what most knew. The authorities had no business raiding the Rainbow Lounge this past June.

7. Are most baseball fans by nature nostalgic and anti-modernity?

8. For the first time in awhile I was able to go to my local bar this weekend, and not feign interest for a conversation.

9. Never liked any film by John Hughes (RIP). For some reason they never resonated. I did however, have a serious crush on Anthony Michael Hall. Always have love for the nerds.

10. This story shows it’s time for us old-heads to change up our views on sexuality.

Thought for sure this story would generate more comments. Maybe people have moved on to the latest outrage, but the internal report by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission shows that TABC officials were violating all types of rules when they raided Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge.

From failure to follow appropriate procedures for a bar inspection to not reporting that Chad Gibson was injured, TABC officers did little right that June 28 night. Agent Christopher Aller insists Gibson touched his groin and that is why he had to be arrested (and the head injury was to make sure Gibson never touched a groin area again). Gibson denies he did anything to the agent, but why take his word right? If you get in trouble with officers of the law you must have done something because the police duty is to protect and serve. And in the history of police work, has a cop ever told a fib on a report? Perish the thought!

The Fort Worth Police Department and TABC still can’t get the story straight of who was in charge of Gibson when he was injured, each department pointing to the other. That might be cleared after the Fort Worth police finish their internal investigation but with Chief Jeff Halstead in charge, I have my doubts.

What do you Fort Worth citizens think?

Council members explained that the federal investigation would reaffirm information found from inquiries made by the Fort Worth police department.

“We want to be able to assure people that this is a thorough and accurate investigation, and that’s part of the reason we’re taking the actions here,” City Council member Joel Burns said.

Two investigations have been made by the Fort Worth Police Department into the incident. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is also investigating two of their officers involved in the raid.

The request for a federal investigation came several hours before Fort Worth officials released personal records for five of the seven officers involved in the raid. The records showed that Officer Jason R. Ricks, one of the officers involved in the raid, has had a history of misconduct.

Ricks has been arrested in the past by New Braunfels police after he punched a bus driver in the face in July of 2006. Ricks was off duty and had been drinking for a couple hours when the fight occurred. Ricks was disciplined several other times during 2006.

Captain W.A. Read, one of Ricks’s supervisors, wrote in a September 2006 letter that Ricks had “shown a history of poor decisions and bad judgment” and added that another lieutenant “has put forth a valid argument that Officer Ricks does not show the maturity level that is required of a Fort Worth police officer.”

Mayor Mike Moncrief supports the City Council’s request for a federal investigation as well as the Fort Worth Police Department.

“I am very pleased with the way the Police Department’s investigation is progressing,” he said. “I continue to be very confident in Chief [Jeff] Halstead and our department that they will resolve this issue in an open, timely and unbiased manner.”

Read the full Dallas Morning News article here.

One of the pleasures of writing here is the occasional fit some have over an entry they feel isn’t particularly gay. People will announce they come to 365 to read about gay stuff and anything else ruins the morning coffee. I’ve never understood the whole news segregation thing, but there is much I don’t get or appreciate (still wondering why anyone listens to Madonna or cares about the ramblings of a beauty pageant contestant).

Yesterday there was a lot of chatter about the Henry L. Gates post. A few wondered why it was here. Complaining about a post on a black guy’s troubles with the law is like a black guy moaning gays never had to sit at the back of the bus. Both grievances are based on the assumption that gay equals white. There were many gays during Jim Crow who could not choose their bus seats. They were gay and black. A number of black and brown gays and lesbians might want to know about the Gates saga because they too have had run-ins with the police. Like comedian Paul Mooney quipped: if you are black and live in America you have a police story.

But moving beyond the standard racial calculus, yesterday’s post is important to the “gay community” because the behavior of the police is of immediate concern to all gays and lesbians, no matter our racial backgrounds. The treatment of Chad Gibson should have made that clear. Gibson was beat down by officers of the state because he had the nerve to think drinking water in a gay bar wasn’t a crime. I’m sure those accusing Gates of bringing it all on himself, were filled with outrage over Gibson’s treatment and the initial response of the Fort Worth police chief. Those same outraged folks never called Gibson arrogant, opined  the whole affair never would have happened if Gibson just did what the officers asked, or  took the police account of Gibson’s attack as the gospel.

No tears for Gates though. He has access to power that Gibson can only dream of (is the Fort Worth case even known outside of the LGBT orbit?); however, it’s naive, and dangerous, to think the kerfuffle in Cambridge is not connected to our gay lives.

Mayor Mike Moncrief (MAHN’-creef) made an impromptu apology during Tuesday night’s meeting where officials and residents commented on last month’s raid on the Rainbow Lounge, which left one man hospitalized with a serious head injury.

Moncrief had told the crowd: “If you want an apology from your mayor: I am sorry about what happened in Fort Worth.”

City spokesman Bill Begley (BAY’-glee) said Wednesday the mayor and council always are sorry if someone is hurt in the city.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Fort Worth Police Department are investigating the raid, which was conducted jointly by their agencies.