The Austin Police Department is given new rules to play by after every single member of the Austin City Council approved new reforms and police goals, Thursday night.
As part of the reform process, Council agreed that APD’s budget would take a hit in the upcoming budget cycle. The City leaders said, APD will not add on any more staff or sworn officer positions. On top of that, any officer positions the department have unfilled by the end of the 2020-21 fiscal year will be eliminated. The Council said, this way those staffing dollars could then be used in other needs that could also improve public safety, like mental health and social programs.
Councilmember Natasha Harper Madison said, “it is just the first step in what we know will be a long journey away from our compromised public safety system,” She continued, “I fully intend to take a good hard look at every single opportunity to transform out spending priorities so that they reflect our community and its values.”
Another new rule banned APD from ever using tear gas. The ordinance was set up by Councilmember Greg Casar was originally going to limit APD from using it on protestors and others exercising their 1st Amendment right.
APD Chief Brian Manley explained this could mean officers will be in more danger in certain situations, “When we have an individual…that has taken a holed up inside a home and we have a SWAT callout, the most dangerous thing you can ever do in that circumstance is send that SWAT team into that home to apprehend that individual.” Manley said, the person may have set up booby traps or the person could know the lay out of the home…giving them a tactical advantage. He said the best way for this to end is to make the person come out without police going in, hence the teargas.
But Casar said he could not square tear gas use in the City of Austin at all, since it cannot be used by US troops on the battlefield.
The Council also laid out new “Zero” goals for the Police Department. The proposal brought out by Austin’s Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza, lists four new goals: “Zero racial disparity in motor vehicle stops, Zero racial disparity in citations and arrests resulting from motor vehicle stops by 2023; Zero use-of-force incidents per year by 2023; and Zero deaths at the hands of APD officers per year by 2023.”
While these gaols were applauded and accepted by Garza’s peers, Austin Police Associations President Ken Casaday told KLBJ reporters before the Thursday vote, one goal is completely unattainable given the department’s particular Line of work. “No officer involved deaths is one of the most ludicris things I’ve ever heard of…we dealt with the Austin Bomber and you saw what happened there.” He continued, “we have bank robbers and people that commit violent crime, that shoot at police officers and shoot at citizens. There is no way in heck you could ever promise that a police officer would never be involved in a deadly force incident.”
The reforms and restrictions came in strong demand after George Floyd protests erupted across the country. In its first weekend the protests turned violent at times and were met with police force. Tear gas was used to run off crowds marching over I-35. Less than lethal rubber shell launchers and shotgun bean bag rounds were used on protestors and this response earned the ire of citizens, Councilmembers and protestors alike, more so when the bean bag rounds led to serious and critical injuries.
