Tegan Broadwater receives the US Attorney Commendation Award in 2007 along with the Fort Worth Police Department’s Officer of the Year for his undercover work in the Fishbowl.
Tegan Broadwater is a man of many trades — retired law enforcement officer, musician, author, podcaster, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Growing up, he wanted to be a rockstar, but when he burnt himself out on touring the country in a 1987 Chevy Suburban with his funk-rock band, he made an unorthodox career change and joined the Fort Worth Police Department.
Beginning in 2005, Broadwater went undercover for 18 months to successfully infiltrate gang operations in the small, six-street neighborhood of Ash Crescent in southeast Fort Worth, aptly dubbed “The Fishbowl” due to its one-street-in, one-street-out formation. Posing as a high-end cocaine dealer named Tee Cadell from the other side of town, the blond-haired narcotics officer made personal connections with gang members that led to a cultural awakening about the problems communities like The Fishbowl face. While his work led to the take down of 52 Crip members, it also taught Broadwater about racial disparities and issues with police bureaucracies.
He details the story of his operation and the eye-opening lessons he learned in a recently re-released book, Life in the Fish Bowl. Los Angeles-based screenwriter and director Sutton McKee teamed up with Straight Outta Compton producer, Scott Bernstein, to write a pilot TV series based on the memoir. The book’s proceeds benefit HOPE Farm, a local leadership program that helps at-risk boys.
Broadwater since retired from the force and now runs a private security firm with his wife, Holli. He also speaks publicly, hosts a podcast, and continues his music career; all focused on addressing the societal issues he witnessed while undercover.
FWMag: You worked undercover in The Fishbowl for 18 months. You were successful in infiltrating the gang system. But you also made connections with the people and community that you were infiltrating. What did you learn through that?
TB: I learned a lot. I learned that the guys that I was dealing with on a day to day basis were a lot more like me than I ever could have guessed. Most of us would assume that if you're a criminal, then there's not much in common because they just think completely differently. I found that one of the only key differentiators was the fact that they were sociopathic. But outside of that, we talked about Cowboys football. We talked about playing video games. We talked about what kind of beer they liked.
Then there are people that are trying to do right by themselves and their families that are having to live among all the crimes as well. They were the inspiration. These are people working in a low-income area, trying to support a family or raising grandkids. The original motivation was to salvage the neighborhood for the people who were trying to do their best despite their disadvantage.
FWMag: What’s happened to The Fishbowl since your operation?
TB: Early on afterwards, I found that there was a remarkable change because all of the houses that were dilapidated were bulldozed. Some real estate companies had come in and taken over the houses, re-rented them, put up paint and fences. So it was, for a short time, extraordinarily transformed.
But ultimately, people get out [of jail], and they kind of assimilate back into their ways. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be, but it also has taken some steps back since its initial improvement.
I know there's an HOA over there that's starting to deal with some of the issues, along with some of the neighborhood police officers. I think it's salvageable at this point with some attention and focus and some city funds.
FWMag: Currently, tensions are high between the black community, really the whole nation, and law enforcement. It’s a very polarized issue right now. Having seen what goes on in the police force and what goes on in neighborhoods like The Fishbowl, what are your thoughts on that? Is there a middle ground?
TB: Part of my current plight is to actually rally the people that are on opposing sides from the middle. It's a lot more marketable to have extremism on the screen and have people yelling out things that are anti-police or bigoted. It's just it's a lot more sensationalized.
There are a number of cops that need to go and there are a number of training issues that need to be revised. I think that civil service and union laws need to be revised in order to ensure that terminations stick. The chief in Minneapolis fired so many people, and 55 percent of the people that he fired got their jobs back. I cannot imagine trying to run a business like that.
I think there's training that can happen in police departments that deal with racial diversity and cultural diversity. But I think that also stems from our ridiculous American education system and history experience. I think people grow up in that kind of culture and then find it difficult to stomach some of these systemic issues that get brought to light because they haven’t had to live it. If you're a middle-class white guy, you just really haven't had the opportunity to experience or understand any of it. You haven't been taught it. You haven't experienced it. And so it's difficult for you to believe that things like this exist because you feel like you should have heard about it, and you damn sure should have heard about it, but you just haven't.
Then there's a minority of cops and a minority of protesters continuing to cause some of the issues in the media because, again, they get the airtime. You get a peaceful protest and you get three morons that decide they're going to go off and smash windows and incite rioting, they're ruining a perfectly good operation for everybody else and then it allows bigoted white people to say, “See, this is why protests are bad”. It's the same with cops. You only see cop stories when they make a bad arrest or they're doing something that optically doesn't make a lot of sense to the public.
I think that's why people lean on me so much because I call it what it is. And if I have to call out the police, I call out the police. And if I have to defend the police, I defend the police. I don't necessarily take a side. I'm trying to find people that are just interested in learning and exploring more about the facts and understanding context, that want to learn from one another.
FWMag: And that's what you're doing through your podcast, public speaking, and music - finding that common ground?
TB: No question. That's its sole purpose, really, to feature opinions that are not the same. My podcast, specifically, is apolitical. Politics are not even allowed to be part of the conversation because I want to talk about ideas and talk about facts and experiences that will help shape solutions without politicizing things. Once you do that, people tend to shut their minds off to any kind of conversation at all because they feel like they're in some kind of a debate.
Politics is a necessary evil, but it's playing a part in our downfall at this point on both sides. It really is. But there are still plenty of us in the middle that are just looking for something new to learn. Extremism is what's killing us.
FWMag: Do people seem receptive?
TB: I think they are. I've gotten a great response. But it's more difficult to make headway when you're talking about reasonable ideas that are not sensational. So there is a careful balance. Particularly with my music, you put out something that is intended to be socially striking, but not controversial. It says enough that it gets people's attention, it's not tame, but it's definitely making a statement.
FWMag: COVID-19 has put a hold on some of your projects - specifically the TV pilot - but outside of that, what goals do you have for the future?
TB: Obviously, we're not doing speaking engagements or things like that. But it's still not impossible to jump on somebody’s podcast and talk about some things.
Ultimately, I would like to release some [music] videos to where some of the music that comes out is complete with a video to be able to tell the story behind what the song is about.
And then continuing to push forward with our [security] business which is very charitable as well. Doing security work, especially during this pandemic, has been really rewarding. A lot of our funding and profits from there also go to different charitable organizations, one of which is HOPE Farm. We donate to a veteran organization as well - Art Station, which deals with PTSD and art therapy. We support Hope4Blue which is a law enforcement organization that supports families of cops that were killed in the line of duty. And then more recently, we just picked up [donating to] The Loveland Foundation. They provide education and one-on-one therapy with an emphasis on black women and girls.
More information about Tegan Broadwater’s work can be found at teganbroadwater.com.
