Austin police officers working motorcycle patrols are under a new directive to interact with more people throughout their day. This new policy was implemented due to a growing number of motorcycle officers who were reportedly not making enough stops while on duty.
According to KVUE, the new policy, implemented earlier this spring, requires motorycle officers to interact with at least 12 different drivers each day. While it sounds like an old fashioned quota system, Assistant Chief Justin Newsom says it’s really not.
“Motor’s primary core function is traffic enforcement,” he told KVUE. “And so, it seems reasonable that officers who request to go to that unit would be required to proactively make those stops.”
Newsom says the new policy is meant to ensure that motorcycle officers are engaging the public and informing them about the need to obey traffic laws, but he says that doesn’t necessarily mean every driver will be issued a citation.
The new directive also comes at a time in which the Austin Police Department is operating under new rules set by the Austin City Council. Through the controversial “Freedom City” ordinances passed last year, officers have far less leeway in terms of arresting people for low-level misdemeanor crimes, such as petty theft, marijuana possession, or driving with an invalid license.
The most recent numbers from APD show a 60-percent decrease in misdemeanor arrests. A breakdown of demographics shows African-American arrests are down 4-percent, Hispanic arrests are down 7-percent, but the number of white arrests is actually up by 13-percent since 2018.
Activist groups, such as the Workers Defense Project, say the numbers are trending in the direction they want, but not enough has been done to address racial disparities.
APD will provide another update on those numbers later this summer.
