Floresville police have TCOLE review after critical report of department

Outside review calls FPD 'department that is in turmoil'

FLORESVILLE, Texas – Following a scathing outside review, the Floresville Police Department is preparing for another inspection — this time by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement on Thursday.

TCOLE will be reviewing some personnel files and training, according to Floresville City Manager Henrietta Turner. The review is one of 30 recommendations laid out in a report that found problems with morale, warring "factions," lack of competence and a perceived "good ole boy system"

"We knew there would be some," Mayor Cissy Gonzalez-Dippel said. "We didn't have any idea on the extent of these."

Gonzalez-Dippel said the largely new City Council found out earlier this year that most of the city's lawsuits were coming from the Police Department.

"We as a council decided we wanted to go a little bit further and find out what were some of the issues that were spearheading these suits," she said.

The City Council ended up contracting the Professional Development Institute at the University of North Texas for a review of the Police Department's internal practices. The resulting report, dated June 8, laid out numerous problems, including with hiring practices, training and investigators' competence.

Along with the issues, the report lists 30 recommendations. The biggest among them was to remove the current command staff.

The scathing review hasn't gone without pushback.

"It's filled with inconsistencies, inaccuracies. Some parts of it are just flat out wrong," Bob Leonard, Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas assistant general counsel told council members at a special meeting on June 20.

The city is also looking for a "mentor" for Police Chief Lorenzo Herrera, preferably a retired chief of a comparably sized city, Gonzalez-Dippel said.

"Somebody with fresh eyes coming in and giving some suggestions or ideas, or, you know, coming back and telling us, 'Hey, he does a great job,'" the mayor said.

Any changes will have to come from the council, Gonzalez-Dippel said.

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About the Author:

Garrett Brnger is a reporter with KSAT 12.