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Fort Worth Aiming To Bridge Gap Between Police And Communities

FORT WORTH (CBS11) – Fort Worth's Task Force on Race and Culture met Monday night for a progress report from the police department on initiatives and policy changes in dealing with minority communities.

Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald led a presentation for the task force on changes he called proactive within the department.

He said there are several things the department can continue to work on in order to provide better services to the communities they serve.

Chief Joel Fitzgerald
Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald at Task Force on Race and Culture meeting (credit: CBS 11 News)

Among the big changes Chief Fitzgerald spoke about were new policies in de-escalation and the use of body cameras for all officers.

"I think that coming out of this we will be better not only as a city as a community," said Chief Fitzgerald. "I'll have a better department we will be able to deliver services better."

Several of the residents in attendance criticized the task force of continuing to meet and talk but taking very little actions.

Bob Ray Sanders, a co-chair of the Task Force responded saying "I get their frustrations. At some point shortly after the first of the year we will get down to organizing those thoughts finding out what we know to be doing."

Task force leaders say they hope to provide the city council with an actionable plan by August 2018.

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