The Fort Worth Police Officers Association on Wednesday blasted three council members who voted against accepting a federal offer to buy a new armored vehicle for the SWAT team at no cost to the city.
The council members defend their decision.
"I don't support militarizing the police department,” said council member Chris Nettles.
Nettles noted Fort Worth already has two of the vehicles, known as BearCats, and he opposes adding a third.
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"I support the police department,” Nettles said. “I support every effort to make sure our officers are safe and they have the right equipment. As far as this one particular vote, I did not support it."
The rest of the council voted to approve the offer, so the city will get the new vehicle, paid for entirely by the Department of Homeland Security.
Manny Ramirez, president of the police officers association, is critical of those who opposed it.
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"We believed we had a full council that believed in public safety and wanted the best for our police officers and wanted to ensure they went home at night every single day,” Ramirez said. “So we're very concerned."
To Ramirez and the officers, it's a clear case of city leaders not supporting police.
"That was shocking to us and very disappointing,” Ramirez said. “We knew this was happening across the country. We knew there were anti-police cries all over the country but we never thought this would happen in Fort Worth, Texas."
But Nettles doesn't see his vote as anti-police at all and vows to continue to speak out about police issues.
"We are not just going to go along to get along,” he said. “We are going to challenge the system. We are going to speak boldly and proudly and say this is what we support and what we don't support."
Nettles also faulted police for staging one armored vehicle near a large protest near the West 7th Street bridge following the murder of George Floyd.
The other council members who voted against the federal grant were Jared Williams and Elizabeth Beck.
