His presentation covered the city’s low crime rate as well as actions the police department is taking in response to an Aug. 15 incident of police misconduct that garnered widespread attention.
Fortune said Keller citizens would have the opportunity to give input on how police officers are disciplined for misconduct under a variety of circumstances under the proposed discipline matrix, which is set to be introduced to the public in April.
Another avenue of feedback, the Chief’s Student Forum, opened applications Feb. 26.
The forum will consist of a group of students who live in Keller and attend either Keller High School or Central High School. The group will provide a student perspective to the department. Fortune said he hopes the forum will help dispel misconceptions that both students and officers might hold.
“I want to be able to understand [students’ fears], and ... make sure all our officers understand the impact that they have,” he said. “Likewise, I want to have a discussion with the kids, so that they can see, No. 1, the human side of these officers.”
Applications close March 19 for the student forum. The first meeting will be April 5.
As part of the yearly review, Fortune explained there are four areas that the department uses as performance indicators: crime rate, traffic safety, response time to 911 calls and quality of service.
According to the presentation, Keller’s crime rate was 7.7 crimes per 1,000 citizens in 2020. That rate, which is calculated using the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program, has declined from 13.08 crimes in 2010.
“We have a ridiculously low crime rate,” Fortune said.
The presentation also included the results of a 2020 racial bias report by Del Carmen Consulting, which analyzed whether the Keller Police Department complied with the Texas Racial Profiling Law and the 2017 Sandra Bland Act.
According to the presentation, the report found that there were no trends of bias in motor vehicle stops conducted by the department in 2020 and that the department has fully complied.
Thus far, of the participants who participated in a Keller Police town hall in January, only one resident who described being subjected to police misconduct has followed up with a complaint to the department, Fortune said. The incident is under internal investigation.
The number of reportable crashes in the city has also decreased from 270 in 2019 to 199 in 2020. The crash metric is used to determine traffic safety, Fortune said.
In addition, the average emergency response time by patrol officers was under the department’s goal of 4 minutes with a time of 3 minutes, 27 seconds last year.
While the department's crime rate factors in overall quality of service, Fortune said he intends to survey citizens more often to gauge their satisfaction by conducting surveys annually, rather than every three years.
