Steve Cruz, aka “CopWatch Steve,” goes where the police go — focusing his lens on the men and women in blue to keep them honest.
Cruz, a 55-year-old retiree, has spent the last decade walking the streets of the Big Apple with a camera slung around his neck. He has made a name for himself documenting police interactions with the public, from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of 2020 to car stops, from homeless encampment sweeps to street protests, where he spends the majority of his free time.
According to Cruz, he has become somewhat of a local legend amongst the police. In one caught-on-camera exchange, a transit cop noticed Cruz as he made his way through the subway system and called out to him.
“Copwatch! I follow you,” the officer told Cruz.
Although he claims the NYPD does not officially admit to following him on his Instagram and YouTube pages, he asserts that law enforcement officers often use his videos to mock one another when they are caught in his lens.
But Cruz maintains that his work is far more than just a joke behind the thin blue line.
“If I was doing this for nothing, I would have stopped,” Cruz told amNewYork Metro. “99.9% of my write-ups have been substantiated. If I write an officer up, damn right, I got proof of it.”
Cruz posts the videos of police interactions to his YouTube and Instagram pages hoping, in his view, that anyone who believes they have been mistreated by an officer can turn to him to help. Upon request, he combs the footage he captures for the individuals involved, which can then be used to file a claim using the NYC Civilian Complaint Review.
Cruz grew up in East Harlem in the 1980s, years which he described as being rife with danger and violence. During this period, he began focusing on the NYPD’s interactions in the neighborhood, which were often brutal.
“The police were very, very bad back then. They were also corrupt because there weren’t a lot of organizations out there that oversaw the NYPD. I used to get picked up off the street, get my a– beat,” Cruz said. “Every time something happened to me in the street, and my mother brought me to the police station or wherever, they didn’t believe us.”
Cruz candidly admitted that he is no “angel,” at one point doing time in prison for robberies and burglaries. But after being released back into society, his mindset changed.
Despite zeroing in on police, he noted some cops have even come to respect him. He attributes this to an almost journalistic tendency of not verbally abusing cops but simply letting his documentation do the talking for him.
However, it wasn’t always this way. In one incident, he asserted that an officer was transferred because of his videos — and soon after, in July 2020, he was physically attacked.
“I was filming something on 116 Street and one of the cops came up to me and the officer’s partner came to me and just punched me in the chest. He says, ‘You like being a rat?’ I am like ‘What?’” Cruz recalled.
In addition to documenting local incidents, Cruz has also trained his cameras on demonstrations and the NYPD’s response to them. Swiftly becoming known as a watchdog, protesters often invite him to rallies to keep police accountable for alleged brutality, something which the cops have also noticed.
amNewYork Metro reached out to the NYPD for comment about Cruz. While the Police Department did not respond to specific claims, they referred us to the NYPD administrative guide that instructs officers on protocol dealing with those filming them.
“This right to observe and/or record police action can be limited for reasons such as the safety of officers or other members of the public, or when a violation of law is committed by the individuals) who are observing/recording,” part of the handbook read.
Still, while Cruz says police do not actively obstruct him, he sometimes hears their heckling.
“They [police] bark at me because I’m like walking around everywhere watching all the cops,” Cruz said. “They bark at me because I am up their ass.”
Although he accepts donations for his work, Cruz says his job is not a paying gig and has only ever received a few bucks here and there from followers.
But personal tragedy has forced Cruz to curtail his activity in the city. His mother, who lives out of state, recently suffered a stroke leaving her in need of full-time care. This left Cruz with little choice but to pack up his bags and relocate to be with his mother.
Even so, Cruz says he’ll be back in the city often to keep watch over those who keep watch over the city.
“I’m gonna take care of my mother and I won’t be here,” Cruz said. “But I will be back every other month for a week to do my thing.”
