Ex-Cop Explains Why Texas Police Killing Was Avoidable

A former Fort Worth cop breaks down why Atatiana Jefferson's killing was avoidable — and a symptom of a greater problem in policing.

Transcript

00:00I think if that officer had been more comfortable with the area he was working in, she would

00:17have answered them and she'd have been alive today.

00:19Unfortunately, they didn't do that.

00:31I was a Fort Worth police officer from 1992 to late 2004.

00:39The information that I first heard was that an officer went on a wellness check and shot

00:47somebody.

00:48And just having that information, the first thing that went through my mind was, what

00:52happened that made it get to that level?

00:57And so as more information started to come out that the officer actually went to search

01:01the side of the house and did not, you know, identify himself, then it kind of became,

01:09you know, why would an officer at 2 o'clock or 2.30 in the morning go walking and snooping

01:15around somebody's house without checking or identifying themselves as being on the property?

01:20My first thought is, if I start walking around in the backyard and these people are home,

01:24they might shoot me because they don't know who I am.

01:27An incident like this can destroy a relationship between the department and the community.

01:58I don't know what Fort Worth's relationship is like with the community right now or was

02:05before now, but whatever it was, it's a lot worse now.

02:10The only thing I can think of is that they were afraid to go to the front door and announce

02:14who they were because of what might come back at them.

02:18But that's what you signed up for.

02:20That's the job.

02:21Police department and the city council have to listen to the community.

02:26The community is angry right now, but they're going to have to suck it up and listen to

02:31what they're saying.

02:46So community policing is a lot different than just, you know, hitting the pavement and enforcing,

02:52you know, writing tickets and, you know, let me go see what's going on over here.

02:56Why are they hanging out?

02:57It's a little bit more than that.

02:59It's actually become invested in the neighborhood.

03:01It helped us to drop the crime rate tremendously in Fort Worth because we got to know the people

03:07in the area.

03:08They began to trust us.

03:10You're not just there just to, you know, write tickets and kick butt and take names.

03:16You got to be more than that to these people out there.

03:18And when they get that going again, then I think they can build something.