Texas Police Arrest Three Cop Watchers and Confiscate Cell Phones after Weeks of Mounting Tensions

By Andrew Meyer
PINAC
Sep. 09, 2014

In several episodes over recent months, Arlington police officers have been forced to flee the scene of a crime as cop watchers arrived with cameras, members of the Tarrant County Peaceful Streets Project and Texas Cop Block who parked nearby, recording officers from a public space, leading officers to stop what they were doing.

In one recent incident, the Dallas Observer’s Sky Chadde was on hand to report:

“At a recent cop watch, I was in the car when we pulled up to one traffic stop. The man was on the ground with had his hands behind his back. As soon as cop-watcher Joseph Tye got out of his car, the two officers let the man go. He got in his truck and drove away, and so did the officers.”

Chadde’s report begs the question – if officers are fleeing the crime scene when concerned citizens arrive with cameras, then who exactly is committing the crime?

In recent weeks, Arlington police began employing tactics designed to obstruct their view, including using six or more officers to form a human wall around a traffic stop and ordering observers to stay at a distance or face arrest.

But when that did nothing to deter the cop blockers, they resorted to making arrests, jailing three citizens with cameras Saturday night.

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