FORT WORTH, Texas — The Fort Worth Police Department has now fired its third officer in two days.
Officer Scott Smith was fired Wednesday for violating department General Orders following his Dec. 2020 arrest in Crowley for theft, a class B misdemeanor, according to a Wednesday news release from the Fort Worth Police Department.
The department was made aware that Smith was a suspect in a Crowley theft on Dec. 14, 2020. Smith was arrested by the Crowley Police Department on Dec. 18, 2020.
Fort Worth police conducted its own Internal Affairs investigation independent of the Crowley Police Department. Chief Neil Noakes "concurred with the chain of command determination that Smith was in violation of department General Orders," according to the news release.
"The Fort Worth Police Department holds every officer to a very high standard and does not tolerate criminal misconduct or unethical behavior in any manner," the police department said in a news release. "Our department will continue to hold accountable those who do not meet that standard and in doing so, will continue to be transparent and open with our community."
Smith is the third Fort Worth police officer to be fired for unethical conduct Wednesday, and the third in the last two days.
Earlier Wednesday, Noakes fired 14-year veteran Lieutenant Gary Hawley for driving drunk off-duty.
Tuesday, Noakes fired three-year veteran Chadwick Hughes for making racially insensitive social media posts, a violation of the department's social media policy. Hughes had been on restricted duty at the end of January after a colleague discovered the posts.
A second officer is also on restricted duty pending an investigation into reports of an inappropriate post that was shared on social media.
That officer has not been identified.
In October 2020, former officer Roger Ballard was fired for posting a "racially insensitive" meme online.
