RYAN PLACE TASK FORCE

Cade Lovelace, Co-Chair

Joan Kline, Co-Chair
Tim Keith
Karly Johnston
Chris Gee

RYAN PLACE
Mayor, City Council and Staff:

On May 18, 2019, a stranger abducted an 8-year-old child in our neighborhood. Two volunteers
located the child over 8 hours later after an information dissemination effort led by city-wide
neighbors and assisted by Fort Worth Police Department (“FWPD”). During the event, the
FWPD failed to initiate the Amber Alert process in a timely manner, failed to disseminate
information via social media timely and did not reach out to neighborhood leaders until
contacted. On June 3, 2019, the Ryan Place Improvement Association (“RPIA”) led a town hall
meeting to address neighborhood questions and the FWPD’s response to the abduction. City
Councilwoman Ann Zadeh, the Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus, Lieutenant Ward Robinson and
Assistant City Manager Jay Chapa all attended and responded to questions.

Amber Alert

According to published media reports and statements to RPIA, the process for beginning the
Amber Alert was not started until 2 hours and 26 minutes after the girl went missing.1 Further,
“A separate alert was bungled because of difficulty with a fax machine, police said. The
department said it was responsible for faxing alert information to radio stations. But late
Saturday, detectives were not able to successfully use a fax machine they had at the Ryan Place
scene.”2

During the town hall meeting, the FWPD recognized their failures in timely initiating the Amber
Alert system, including an inoperable fax machine at the scene and an off-duty detective was
unable to send the fax from his remote location because it wasn’t a secure line. FWPD failed to
have backup personnel in place to accomplish this task.

Social Media

A Ryan Place neighbor was the first person to post a description of the event, location, victim,
and perpetrator. “Neighborhood residents continued to share information on social media for
more than two hours before Fort Worth police, at 10 p.m., released to the city as a whole the
name and description of the girl, a description of the suspect and the car he was driving on social
media and to the news media. A photo of the suspect’s car was shared on the department’s
Twitter page at 11:23 p.m.”3 Further, the first Public Relations Office officer didn’t arrive to the
scene until between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m.

1
See Deanne Boyd and Nichole Manna, “The kidnapper fled in a car. So why didn’t police share details with
everyone sooner?” Fort Worth Star Telegram, 2019
2
Id.
3
Id.

1
At the town hall meeting on June 3, 2019, the FWPD described a cumbersome process for
vetting and disseminating information on social media. FWPD indicated that for major cases,
FWPD is adjusting procedures so that Neighborhood Patrol Officers (NPO) can get authorization
to release information more quickly.

Community Engagement

The RPIA President was among those updating residents about the search on the Ryan Place
Facebook page. However, the association President was not obtaining information from official
sources until he contacted Councilwomen Zadeh who connected him with a police spokesman.

At the town hall meeting on June 3, 2019, Assistant City Manager Chapa stated the high activity
level and cooperation of Ryan Place was a wonderful and rare thing. Councilwoman Zadeh
recognized a need to strengthen communication between neighborhoods and the FWPD and
recommended formalizing the connection between neighborhood associations and the (PIO)
Public Information Officers. Interim Chief Kraus noted budget constraints as limiting FWPD’s
use of best and modern practices.

Finally, in response to questions regarding citizen involvement with FWPD, the attendees
mentioned the Task Force on Race and Culture and its recommendation of a Citizen Review
Board. This recommendation, although accepted by the Fort Worth City Council in December
2018, has yet to be formed.

Follow-up

Accordingly, RPIA appointed a Task Force to work with the City and FWPD to address the
issues revealed during the abduction and at the town hall. The Task Force requests written
answers to the following questions on or before September 21th:

1. What FWPD policies have changed to address the known failures of the FWPD’s Amber
Alert process?
2. How has FWPD modified its social media policy so that officers on the scene are able to
disseminate information during an emergency more effectively?
3. What barriers prevent FWPD from quickly alerting and engaging with neighborhood
leaders during emergencies?
4. What resources are unavailable to FWPD and/or what practices are not able to be
implemented or modified due to budget constraints?
5. Why has the Citizen Review Board not been created?

Respectfully,

RYAN PLACE TASK FORCE

2
SUPPORTERS OF THESE REQUESTS AS OF AUGUST 26:

Ryan Place Improvement Association

Fairmount Neighborhood Association
South Hemphill Heights Neighborhood Association
Pascal Neighborhood Association
Ridglea Hills Neighborhood Association
Ridgmar Neighborhood Association
Candle Ridge Homeowners Association
Mistletoe Heights Association
West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association
Chapin Road & Alemeda St. Neighborhood Association
Colonial Hills Neighborhood Association
Cabalito Del Mar HOA Inc.
Historic Southside Neighborhood Association
Monticello Neighborhood Association
Bomber Heights Neighborhood Association
Eastgate Neighbors
Stop 6/ Poly Oversight Neighborhood Association
East Fort Worth Coalition
Beverly Hills Neighborhood Association
Far Greater Northside Neighborhood Association
Diamond Hills Neighborhood Association
North Side Neighborhood Association
Sunset Heights Neighborhood Association
Hemphill Corridor Task Force

Daggett Elementary School PTA Executive Board

Daggett Montessori School PTA Executive Board

Beverly Powell, Texas Senate

Ramon Romero, Texas House of Representatives
Ashley Paz, Fort Worth ISD Trustee