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Ft. Worth Police Lashed out at Dallas Station

The Ft. Worth Police Officers Association is not too happy with KTVT in Dallas.

Police says that the Ft. Worth Police Department had not yet released the name or photograph of the Fort Worth Police Sergeant that was shot in the line of duty.

They said that they had asked the media "respect the wishes of the family until a decision was made to release his information."

KTVT did not do so and Reporter Aerzow Doost posted Sgt. Shane Drake’s photo on Twitter stating “Sources say Fort Worth Sgt Shane Drake was shot after responding to a call. Details coming up at 11 @CBS11”. Later they posted the officers photo again on Twitter stating:

The Fort Worth Police Officers Association said they reached out to KTVT and Reporter Aerzow Doost and asked that she respect the family’s wishes to remove his photo and name from social media. The station did not comply with the request. 

Cops say they then called KTVT News Director Mike Garber and asked him that the posts on social media be removed and for station to respect the family’s privacy.

Police say that Garber was uncooperative with the request for privacy and relayed that he had editorial decisions to make and a business to operate.

Police took to Facebook and posted, "The FWPOA understands that the media market is highly competitive in being the first to report news. However, when a simple request for privacy is blatantly disregarded, the respect and character of a media source is diminished. The unprofessionalism by CBS 11 News Director Mike Garber and reporter Arezow Doost will NOT be tolerated in regards to the request for privacy of an officer who is shot in the line of duty." 

They then added, "The Fort Worth POA would like to specifically thank FOX 4 News, NBC 5, WFAA 8, and all other media partners for honoring the wishes of the police family during an extremely difficult time."

In other words, look for a lot of traffic stops involving KTVT news vehicles over the next few weeks.