TRAC Unit Created
The Tactical Response to Apartment Crime (TRAC) Unit was created to combat crime in and around apartment communities. The TRAC Unit works closely with Neighborhood Patrol Officers (NPOs) assigned to specific geographic areas. TRAC responds to Priority 1 and 2 calls for service, develops key contacts, and gathers criminal intelligence to identify and address key problems. A few accomplishments include:
Working with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) to suspend alcohol licenses for convenience stores that are used as hubs for criminal activity
Conducting saturation patrols, both in vehicles and on foot
Identifying suspects in major case incidents, including homicides, throughout the area
Making arrests for a variety of crimes including auto-theft, possession of illegal weapons and drugs, felony warrants, and burglarizing motor vehicles
Fort Worth Police Department Leads the Way in Body Camera Technology The Fort Worth Police Department purchased its first 50 body cameras in 2012, followed by another set of 145 devices in 2013—the majority deployed in patrol and the traffic division, with a few in zero tolerance, gang and SWAT units. Since December 2013, every graduating recruit is trained to use a camera and assigned one. In 2014, the City entered into a $2.7M agreement to purchase 400 more devices with five years of evidence storage. This purchase enabled the department to equip a total of 595 officers with body camera technology—making the police department the second-largest user of this type of cameras in the country in 2014. Chief Robertson stated that with President Obama’s call to equip seven percent of the nation’s police force with body cameras, other departments are now asking the Fort Worth Police Department for advice.
The videos are uploaded to Evidence.com, where detectives and supervisors can view them as evidence in criminal prosecutions, or while investigating administrative concerns or a citizen’s complaint about an officer’s behavior. The cameras attach to the officer’s glasses or collar.
Department policy states that officers should activate their cameras when collecting evidence that can be used in criminal prosecutions, to record contacts with the public in which law enforcement action will potentially be taken, in foot and vehicle pursuits and in the execution of consensual searches. The cameras should also be activated when investigating calls involving mentally distressed persons, documenting accident or crime scenes, and by at least one officer during tactical entries, such as when a SWAT team storms a house. Videos categorized as criminal or administrative will be kept for a minimum of two years, under department policy. Videos not categorized will be destroyed after 180 days.
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