Austin’s Police Chief is aware of the Mayor’s call for the badge numbers of cops who say they can’t help with homeless problems since the camping, sitting and lying ordinance change.
Police Chief Brian Manley said since the homeless ordinance change, they’ve been limited in their abilities when it comes to 911 calls where people feel unsafe about the homeless, but the homeless aren’t technically doing anything wrong. He explained, in the past that would be a situation where they’d speak with the homeless person to voluntarily comply. But, “with the changes to the ordinances, if we cannot establish that the conduct is hazardous, dangerous, or obstructing. Then we no longer have that opportunity to change that behavior.”
However, the Chief points out those ordinance changes had no effect on an officers ability to step in and act when folks, homeless or not, are acting aggressively or dangerously. He added, “and if there is an officer out there, that is giving out information other than that, it is important that we know who that officer is so that we can ensure that they understand the changes, and that we are providing accurate information.
KLBJ’s Patrick Osborn reported about the mayor’s stament, you can listen to that below:
(Photo:Shutterstock/Philip Arno Photography)
