A Dallas Cop Was Fired for Refusing to Rat Out an Old Friend Who's Now a Murder Suspect

Dallas police Sergeant Carlton Barnes knew the man the bulletin described. They had gone to school together years before. Now, in September 2011, his friend was a capital murder suspect. According to an internal affairs investigation, Barnes ran the memo by a fellow officer, another former classmate, who confirmed that...

By Eric Nicholson

September 19, 2013

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Dallas police Sergeant Carlton Barnes knew the man the bulletin described. They had gone to school together years before. Now, in September 2011, his friend was a capital murder suspect.

According to an internal affairs investigation, Barnes ran the memo by a fellow officer, another former classmate, who confirmed that the suspect was the person Barnes thought it was. Barnes volunteered to pass the information along to homicide detectives.

It took him 18 months.

Barnes finally passed along the information in March 2013. DPD doesn't make clear what prompted his admission. The department declined to identify the suspect or give details about his alleged crime.

Barnes was fired today following a disciplinary hearing with Chief David Brown, for failing to disclose information to homicide detectives and for lying in a sworn affidavit. For that, he also faces a records-tampering charge.

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