Bill Waybourn, your deputies need you. Show the video in Tarrant County jail death | Opinion
Cameras are a law officer’s best friend.
They tell us more about who was right and wrong.
They show us who hit who, and who might have been responsible.
The faster we see video of a police incident, the better for the profession. Usually, we get to see police doing a good job. Sometimes, we see how officers can get better.
Every day we don’t see the video is a day when the officers remain suspects.
That’s why it’s so puzzling that Sheriff Bill Waybourn has not let us see the video of his jailers’ April 21 pepper-spraying that led to the death of Anthony Johnson Jr., 31, of Fort Worth, a Marine veteran brought in by suburban Saginaw police.
Police said Johnson was standing in the street with a knife.
His family said he wanted to be treated for schizophrenia. But like dozens of Texans every day in the worst state in America for mental health, he was turned away.
Waybourn himself cited the lack of mental health treatment as a reason for Johnson’s death.
At one point last year, the wait for a state hospital bed for treatment was nine months.
So instead, patients wind up in jail for petty crimes. They serve some time and go free before Texas can even get them into a hospital.
Whatever Johnson had or had not done, it didn’t deserve a death penalty.
In Tarrant County, Johnson became No. 58.
That’s how many inmates have died since Waybourn took office in 2017. That’s more than in Dallas, which is a larger county. But it’s also fewer than in smaller Bexar County (San Antonio).
Only Waybourn can decide when to show a video.
In cities, the police chief often shows body-camera footage less than a day later. That helps show the public what officers were up against and the tough decisions they faced, right or wrong.
Phil Sorrells, the district attorney, can ask Waybourn to wait and make it easier on Sorrells’ staff picking a jury if a jailer faces criminal charges.
But that makes it tougher on deputies.
“I think it should be released when the sheriff is ready,” said Charley Wilkison of the Austin-based Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. That police labor association is affiliated with the local deputies’ association.
Once the sheriff has a chance to “review the evidence and see if protocols were followed, if they followed orders, if the training was followed,” then it might be time, said Wilkison, a strong supporter of police video and bodycams.
Jail deputies and prison guards have some of the worst jobs in law enforcement.
“They’re attacked from behind, beaten, spat on — sometimes even when they’re trying to get someone medical attention,” Wilkinson said.
In a short work shift, he said, “they have to account for everybody, make sure they’re not fighting or trying to commit suicide. They’re stretched thin, the staffing’s horrible and the pay’s not good.”
County Commissioner Manny Ramirez, a Republican from rural northwest Tarrant County, is the former president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association. He’s still a Fort Worth reserve officer.
Ramirez announced Thursday that he’d like to see the sheriff gain trust by setting policies for announcing in-custody deaths and publishing the video.
“To put it bluntly,” Ramirez wrote, “Tarrant County must get better.”
For our deputies.
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