FORT WORTH, Texas — Updated at 7:24 p.m. with a statement from Mayor Betsy Price.
A second police officer in Fort Worth has been placed on restricted duty for activity on social media, officials said Friday.
Internal affairs learned Feb. 5 of a racially insensitive post shared on the officer's account.
Mayor Betsy Price said in a statement that she was "deeply disappointed" this had happened again, but appreciated "in both instances, it was a fellow officer that called out and condemned the social media posts."
Restricted duty means the officer loses their badge, gun, and all police powers pending the investigation's outcome, officials said.
Fort Worth police announced another officer was placed on restricted duty on Feb. 1 for racially insensitive posts.
In a statement, the department said it "holds every officer to a very high standard and any comment, post, or communication which is racially insensitive or unprofessional will not be tolerated."
In both cases, the officers were placed on restricted duty at the director of Chief Neil Noakes.
Price thanked Noakes for his leadership "by taking swift action" and said she supported the internal affairs investigation, the statement said.
Noakes was officially sworn in as chief of police this week.
“We’ve seen this over and over again,” said Kyev Tatum, pastor at New Mt. Rose Missionary Baptist Church. “To those of us who’ve been in this over 30 years, we’re wondering if there’s ever going to be any change in Fort Worth.”
A Fort Worth police officer was also terminated in October after making Facebook post, the department described as racially insensitive and grossly inappropriate.
“This kind of behavior must be uprooted in order for the department to rebuild the trust needed in our community, and the fact that an incident of this kind is happening with such frequency is a major concern,” Price said Friday.
Tatum said he’d like to see U.S. Department of Justice oversight of the Fort Worth Police Department.
“It’s definitely needed and warranted and then it will give those of us who have been fighting this a sense of fairness,” Tatum said.
