Mission, fired officer meet for hearing in front of neutral arbiter

MISSION — A third-party hearing began here last Thursday to determine if a former high-ranking Mission police union member’s firing was unreasonable and needs to be reversed. Javier Lara, who served as the union president of the Mission Police Association Local #293, was placed on an indefinite suspension earlier this year in April after a misconduct and perjury complaint filed against him was found to have merit by an independent legal review. That review recommended Lara be fired as a result of the findings. Lara’s union is affiliated with the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA), whose executive director previously warned the city that the organization would take legal action against Mission for failing to address “serious concerns” against Police Chief Cesar Torres. Some of those concerns include Torres allegedly targeting, harassing, and intimidating employees, particularly union board members, since his 2022 appointment as police chief. Kevin Lawrence, the TMPA executive dir