“seized it the night before but forgot to take it to the property room”.
April 22, 2023
Fort Worth Police say an officer is off the force after an investigation determined he was dishonest.
The department released a statement Friday saying Officer Cody Atkinson had been terminated following an internal administrative investigation “into several incidents of untruthfulness” the department said took place between October 2022 and January 2023.
Atkinson, according to the department, was untruthful about his location on Oct. 28, 2022, after he was dispatched to a domestic disturbance call with another officer and did not show up at the call.
On Jan. 12, 2023, the department said another officer questioned Atkinson about seized property found in his patrol vehicle and that he said he seized it the night before but forgot to take it to the property room. Police said the report indicated Atkinson took custody of the property on Jan. 5, 2023. The department said Atkinson then took the property to the property room and supplemented the report with a false statement that after losing the property in his vehicle he subsequently found and tagged the property the day after the seizure.
Fort Worth Police said after the allegation Atkinson was placed on restrictive duty and stripped of his police powers during the investigation.
Police said on Jan. 27, 2023, while on restricted duty, Atkinson failed to show up for work on time and told his supervisor he had to go to the municipal court. It was later discovered that he had not been contacted by the court and he admitted to being untruthful to excuse his tardiness.
After reviewing the internal investigation, Atkinson’s superiors, including Chief of Police Neil Noakes, determined he’d violated several department policies and he was fired.
