From Tammye Nash, Dallas Voice

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead told the Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 18, that at least some of the problems with the June 28 raid at the Rainbow Lounge LGBT nightclub arose out of “flawed policies within the police department.”

Five people were arrested and charged with public intoxication during that raid. Two others were arrested on charges of resisting arrest, but those charges were later dropped.

The acknowledgment came during Halstead’s report to the council on results of two separate internal investigations into allegations arising out of the June 28 raid.
Halstead said the investigations are not yet complete, but that a new, carefully structured policy on bar inspections has been written and will go into effect on Sept. 1, along with training on how to enforce the policy.

That policy, he said, would ensure that “we never, ever have to come here again and explain how something like this happened.”

Halstead also acknowledged that his department “led this effort (to inspect the Rainbow Lounge that night] and we asked for [the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) assistance."

Halstead apologized again to Chad Gibson, the gay man hospitalized with a head injury following the raid, and he apologized for public comments he made the day after the raid occurred that many in the LGBT community found offensive.

"I have made mistakes and comments I made [early on] offended people. I apologize for that. It was never, ever my intent to be offensive,” Halstead said.

Halstead’s report to the council included a detailed description of what occurred at Rainbow Lounge that night, based on testimony from officers involved and witnesses in the bar at the time. But he noted that several witnesses have yet to come forward and “we have a lot of work to do.”

The chief said the specific allegations being investigated are that police officers used excessive force in the arrests at the Rainbow Lounge, that officers acted in an unprofessional and rude manner, and that officers neglected their duty
If any of those allegations are proven, disciplinary action can range from training, to discipline, to suspension without pay to termination, depending on the severity of the misconduct