National civil rights group: Fresno PD should not give cover to white nationalist officers
A national civil rights legal group penned a letter calling on Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama to fire a Fresno police officer who formerly identified as a Proud Boy and to take steps to root out white nationalism in the police department.
The associate director for the James Byrd Jr. Center to Stop Hate with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Arusha Gordon, also in her letter dated Tuesday urged Balderrama to commission an independent investigation into white supremacy in the department and to put into action the recommendations of the Fresno Commission for Police Reform.
Officer Rick Fitzgerald was placed on paid administrative leave last month after he joined Proud Boys in supporting the sale of the iconic Tower Theatre to Adventure Church. A Fresno Police Department internal affairs investigation is ongoing.
Gordon quoted the department’s policy manual that says the department is no longer effective when public trust is eroded.
“…the continued employment of Fitzgerald and others like him undermines the effectiveness of Fresno PD and strains its relationship with the community your officers have sworn to protect and serve,” Gordon wrote.
Balderrama said Wednesday he had not yet seen the letter and couldn’t comment specifically on the pending personnel matter.
“I’ve made it very clear that the type of ideology that the group like the Proud Boys has is incompatible with fair and impartial policing,” he told The Bee in a phone interview. “We are taking measures to review and update our policies to make sure this is perfectly clear.
“We are also taking measures to make sure that officers are abiding by policy and not participating in any active roles with hate groups,” he said.
Balderrama also pointed to a letter he signed in February by the Major Cities Chiefs Association condemning extremism.
The Lawyers’ Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization formed by the request of President John F. Kennedy to combat racial discrimination and secure equal justice through the rule of law.
Since news of Fitzgerald’s former Proud Boy affiliation came to light, Mayor Jerry Dyer (former Fresno police chief) and the Fresno Police Officers Association expressed support for the investigation and denounced racism within the ranks of the police department.
However, other city leaders, advocacy groups and hundreds of residents said the internal investigation was not enough and called for an independent investigation.
Lawyers’ Committee letter
Gordon’s letter provided legal analysis on why Fitzgerald should be fired and how his actions and words undermined the police department’s role in serving the community.
She called for further action, too — including a community forum about white supremacy in policing; a robust investigation by the California Attorney General’s Office, an outside law firm, or other experienced outside entity; and the creation of a Civilian Oversight Board, among the dozens of recommendations made by the recent Commission for Police Reform.
Gordon argued Fitzgerald violated five department policies, including associating with a gang, showing disgraceful conduct, associating with people who engage in criminal conduct, engaging in conduct that reflects unfavorably on the department, and the code of ethics that calls on officers to kept their personal lives “unsullied.”
“Fitzgerald has shown, by word and deed, his appetite for violent confrontation toward his perceived political enemies, many of whom hail from historically marginalized communities already given ample reason to mistrust the police,” Gordon wrote. “In doing so, he has irreparably sullied his own reputation and made his continued employment by Fresno PD untenable.”
Gordon also said the Fresno Police Department “should not, and need not, give cover to white nationalism or violent vigilantism within its ranks,” asserting that white nationalism is not protected by the First Amendment. She noted that the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that public employees’ speech is protected only when the employee speaks on a matter of public concern and their speech doesn’t risk interfering with the employer’s operations.
Furthermore, Gordon wrote about how the First Amendment right interacts with a police officer’s job and the importance of public trust.
“Even the mere perception of police officers harboring racist or bigoted sentiment jeopardizes the integrity of law enforcement, endangers individual officers and community members alike, and deepens the divide between police officers and communities of color,” she wrote.
Community demands
The news about Fitzgerald spurred community action and demands locally, too.
Fresno Barrios Unidos, an advocacy nonprofit for young people, said in a statement the situation demonstrated the Fresno Police Department did not have enough information about its officers to adequately protect Fresno’s LGBTQ community and Black, indigenous and people of color.
Barrios Unidos’ demands include Fitzgerald being placed on leave without pay; the Fresno Police Officers Association dissolving protections for racist officers; removing police officers from Fresno Unified schools; establishing civilian oversight for the hiring, firing and discipline of officers; creation of an equity office to investigate all city departments for white supremacy and racism; and for the Fresno City Council to draft an anti-racism resolution to bring forth structural change.
An open letter to Balderrama and Fresno elected leaders also was circulated last month and signed by hundreds of residents with similar demands.
That “Hold Fresno Accountable” letter also demanded a civilian oversight board be created and that the police union’s contract strengthen disciplinary and misconduct documentation procedures.
“For years, community members have spoken out against racially biased policing practices. We have called for greater transparency, accountability, and discipline within the police department,” the letter read. “Although the city took an important step of creating the Fresno Commission on Police Reform in 2020, this newest revelation demonstrates that the problems within the police department are larger than previously known.
“We must make police officers accountable to the community members they serve before trust in local policing can be restored,” the letter read. “We call on our elected officials and Police Chief Balderrama to meet the demands outlined here.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.