APD: Undercover Occupy was 'good faith'

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police say they believe undercover officers who infiltrated the Occupy Austin movement acted in good faith.

“There is no information that we have that shows these officers violated policy at this point,” said Assistant Chief David Carter.

The department addressed accusations from protestors who say Officer Shannon Dowell helped purchase and build the “dragon sleeve” devices which led to felony charges during a Houston protest.

The device is a PVC pipe bolted in the middle and allows people to “link” together in a difficult to break human wall.

“The undercover officers could have told anyone involved that this was a felony and deescalated the tactics instead of escalating the tactics,” said protestor Ronnie Garza, one of those arrested in the Houston protest. He took part in another protest outside APD on Wednesday.

Protestors using the dragon sleeves in Houston were charged with felonies while other protestors were charged with misdemeanors.

APD said they would conduct an internal review of their undercover policies.

On Wednesday, a Harris County judge hearing the case against one of the arrested protestors admonished prosecutors for not revealing APD’s involvement.

Carter says all of the officers’ information has been given to the Harris County District Attorney. The judge in the case will take three weeks to look over the information before determining if the charges should be dropped.