Fort Worth police, state troopers filled Como streets. Why they were asked to be there
On July 3, Texas state troopers and officers with the Fort Worth Police Department packed into the Como neighborhood and blocked intersections as people celebrated Independence Day.
The large police presence caught residents off guard. Soon, videos of flashing lights were shared on Facebook as people talked about the over-policing of the mostly Black neighborhood in west Fort Worth.
Residents later complained to leaders of the Como Neighborhood Advisory Council and some sent messages to their community police officer about what happened that night. However, the council said it has worked with officers for several years and has asked them to block intersections on July 3 so people can safely celebrate the holiday.
In light of current events surrounding police brutality and the tensions between police and Black communities nationwide, both groups will reevaluate how to handle their presence for next year’s celebration, they said.
Officer Tracey Carter, who was the neighborhood’s patrol officer for five years before becoming a spokesperson for the department, said police have had a presence in the neighborhood on July 3rd for the last several years. It started about five years ago when a large group of people blocked Horne Street and Wellesley Avenue.
“That’s a major intersection and people who live there weren’t able to get into their homes,” Carter said on Wednesday.
That year, police met with the Como Neighborhood Advisory Council and both groups decided that on the following Fourth of July, police would be there to help with crowd control and to keep the streets clear.
But the size of the crowd still overwhelmed officers and streets became clogged again.
“There was an emergency call at a house over there that emergency vehicles couldn’t get to,” Carter said.
So again, the groups met and devised a plan for the next year.
“The older residents have asked us for help and have asked us to make sure the streets don’t get blocked and to make sure the fireworks aren’t going off too late,” Carter said. “The parade happens the next morning at 10 a.m. and a lot of the people that come in and blow of fireworks don’t live there and leave without cleaning up.”
But this year felt different for many of the younger residents. The parade was canceled and it wasn’t immediately clear to them who canceled it and why. And, following more than a month of protests against police brutality and racism, a large group of officers occupying the streets didn’t sit well with many who live in Como.
Estrus Tucker, a longtime member of the Como Neighborhood Advisory Council, said there are things the group would have done differently had it known that many officers were going to show up — and if it had known that state troopers would also be present.
“We heard from many residents who were concerned with the number of police, but there are also many residents who are familiar with what happens on July 3rd,” he said. “I think some of the younger adults, with all that has been going on, with the confusion with who canceled the parade and the state troopers present, that added to the tensions. There should have been better communication.”
Tucker wrote a letter to residents that he hopes will help alleviate their concerns.
He said that the parade was canceled by the Lake Como Planning Committee chairman over concerns about COVID-19. Other parades that were still held in the city were of much smaller scale, which Tucker said would have been impractical for the Como Parade, which often involves hundreds of people.
“Given the racial disparities of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the limited access to quality health care by some of our residents, we were exceptionally concerned about the safety, health and well-being of all our neighbors,” Tucker said.
Next year will be the neighborhood’s 70th parade, which he hopes will go on as planned. Carter said police and the neighborhood association reevaluate how to handle the situations each year, and they will meet again.
Tucker said both groups learned lessons from what happened on Friday, and those lessons will effect how the holiday is handled in 2021. And he acknowledged that the police presence made people uncomfortable.
“We need to communicate with people better,” he said. “If we would have known in advance about the troopers, we could have prevented the confusion. They were only there to man the barricade. They had no law enforcement role but the visual of them added to the tension.”
There were no reports of force or arrests by police. Carter said a few people were given citations.
Tucker also said that the group will use the next year to reach out to their younger residents in an attempt to get them involved with the group.
“We are seriously committed to successfully involving and engaging long term many more of our young adults and teenagers, particularly those who feel unheard, unappreciated, devalued and targeted by law enforcement,” he wrote in the letter. “We want them at the table of decision-making and we want them in positions to lead.”
