FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF) – A Fort Worth Police Officer being investigated over a social media post was fired on Thursday.
According to the Fort Worth Police Department, administration was made aware of what it calls a “racially insensitive” and “grossly inappropriate” Facebook post which surfaced on a page shared by Officer Roger Ballard and his wife, Officer Katie Ballard.
After reviewing findings from Internal Affairs, Chief Kraus concurred with the chain of command determination that Officer Roger Ballard was in violation of departmental General Orders and that his conduct brought justified unfavorable criticism upon the department.
Ballard received an indefinite suspension on Thursday for violating departmental General Orders related to social media use. An indefinite suspension is equivalent to termination.
“The Fort Worth Police Department holds every officer to a very high standard and any comment, post, or any communication which is racially insensitive and unprofessional will not be condoned in any manner,” the department said in a statement. “Our department will continue to hold accountable those who do not meet that standard.”
Internal Affairs continues to investigate the extent of the involvement of the second officer.
The discipline has sparked outrage with some in the law enforcement community.
“This is all about not having our back,” said retired Fort Worth Officer Michael Cagle. “From the people I’ve spoken with there’s about to be a big blue flu.”
Cagle said Ballard’s post was inappropriate but that termination wasn’t the only option. He believes Officers are becoming hesitant to do their jobs over concern of getting in trouble.
“The way that everything is going with morale, [Officers] are basically just call takers now and they do the least they have to because the department is not backing the Officers,” said Cagle. “And they’re bowing down to all these protesters.”
The department maintains that racially insensitive posts won’t be tolerated.
Listen to Clayton Neville’s story below:
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