Internal report finds "extensive failures" and "poor judgment" inside Midlothian Police Department
MIDLOTHIAN — It started with a 12-year-old girl reporting an alleged sex crime.
Her family called the police, but instead of getting help, they say they were ignored and brushed off. Now that family's mission for justice has revealed troubling problems with Midlothian's police department.
It happened last May, near the end of the school year. A middle school girl called her parents in a panic; she said a boy was masturbating as the class watched a movie. Her father called the school and police. According to the father, while the case progressed at first, the investigator soon stopped responding to their calls and texts. Weeks went by, then months. The family says they complained to the chief, then the city manager, and members of the city council.
The case went nowhere, but it did lead the city council to quietly hire an outside consulting firm to assess the police department's Criminal Investigation Division, or CID. The report was supposed to remain a secret, but the CBS News Texas I-Team obtained a copy of the findings.
In it, consultants noted "significant deficiencies around case management." In a section labeled Concern #1, the consultants said "there is no review as to how long cases have been open or assigned to an investigator or what actions have been taken on those cases."
The investigator assigned to the girl's case, Jason O'Briant, retired in September 2023.
According to the report, the department looked at his open cases and found somewhere "he just stopped working."
In others, the department said suspects were identified, but warrants were not written.
In one, a warrant was drafted but never signed, and in eight cases the department found no evidence O'Briant had done any work at all.
O'Briant told CBS News Texas he could not comment on cases involving juveniles.
The troubles go up through the chain of command. According to the report, the department appointed Sgt. Kyle Boyd as CID commander, even though he "had limited experience leading an investigative team." In short order, he was also assigned to lead the property and evidence department, duties which the report claims took half of his work week. Sgt. Boyd also continued his participation in SWAT, the bicycle unit, and the warrant team.
The report says his boss, Commander Byron Stewart, took on some of Boyd's responsibilities, checking in weekly with Investigator O'Briant, but neither man verified O'Briant's casework.
The report also highlights a complaint of retaliation involving Chief Carl Smith, from the father of the girl.
According to the father, who is also in law enforcement, Chief Smith texted his boss - a police chief in another city - about potentially filing an official complaint against the girl's dad. The other chief responded in a text that the father "did not want his boss acting as an intermediary in a private matter (which I get)."
The report found that Chief Smith "demonstrated poor judgment" and "failed to view the father... as a community member, rather than a law enforcement official."
Several pages of the report are dedicated to the policies and procedures within CID.
At one point consultants note "areas of policy were found to be ineffective, not followed, or non-existent."
Dr. Alex Del Carmen is a criminologist who trains law enforcement agencies in best practices and procedures. CBS News Texas provided him with a copy of the report to get his perspective.
"Policies matter - and the enforcement of those policies matter even more," said Del Carmen. "You want to make sure you are fair to your detectives, and yet you're fair to the people that are being affected by what the detective is doing - or not doing."
The report concludes with ten recommendations, including the development of a case management policy, scheduled check-ins by supervisors, and a complete policy audit across the entire department.
Del Carmen says those changes need to be swift, so the public can continue to have faith in its police.
"I would say stop the bleeding right now, and then secondly start planning for what this is going to look like, and ensure that it doesn't happen again," said Del Carmen.
Jason O'Briant received a one-day unpaid suspension for his handling of the girl's case. He is now an investigator with the Ellis County District Attorney's Office. O'Briant told CBS News Texas he was not aware of the assessment. He later sent us this statement:
"The majority of my caseload was involving juveniles so I could not comment regarding those cases. I have nothing negative to say about my time as an employee for the City of Midlothian. When I left I was given an Honorable Discharge which was reported to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement."
No one with the city or the police department would answer our questions or agree to an interview. Justin Coffman, the mayor of Midlothian, sent us this statement:
"At the direction of the Midlothian City Council, the City of Midlothian engaged an outside firm to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the City's Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division. The assessment was conducted with the full cooperation of the police department.
The consultants emphasized that the assessment was not from the perspective of determining whether the case in question should have been prosecuted or not, but from the perspective of departmental timelines, procedures, processes, and tools engaged to ensure the appropriate investigation and management of cases. Specific investigative practices were not addressed in the assessment.
The assessment resulted in an action plan that the City Manager Chris Dick is in the process of implementing along with Police Chief Carl Smith. This includes developing operating policies and procedures and ensuring they are being followed.
The assessment provides an opportunity for us to improve operations while at the same time improve the service we provide to the community."
The City of Midlothian paid the consultants $25,000 to conduct the assessment, which was never expected to be released to the public. Members of the I-Team spoke with three different law enforcement experts, all of whom agreed the report should be released for transparency.
You can read a copy of the report below:
