APD, Public Safety Commission clash over decorum, responsiveness

Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon threatened to withhold his department’s participation in future meetings of the city’s Public Safety Commission, citing a lack of decorum and exposing deep-seated tensions between the two entities.

Commissioners, in turn, spoke of APD leadership’s frequent refusal to answer their questions, preventing them from serving their advisory function to City Council on public safety policy issues. 

The showdown followed several recent meetings during which commissioners have questioned APD’s tactics, including its recent partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which has disproportionately impacted people of color, and its stonewalling of a committee tasked with reviewing the police training academy curriculum, which was formed in 2021 as part of a broader effort to “reimagine” public safety. 

Chacon hinted at those meetings during an unscheduled appearance before the commission on Monday.

“I don’t want to put my employees into an environment where they feel like they’re being attacked,” he said. “And, quite honestly, if it continues to happen in the future, I will remove my staff from the meeting.”

Commissioner Nelly Paulina Ramirez, who recently took over as chair, said she met with Chacon and interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills last Friday to discuss his concerns. She also expressed hope for a “reset” as well as for a change in APD’s responsiveness moving forward. 

“The power that we have is to ask questions and use those questions to formulate recommendations, when possible, for the Council,” she said at the meeting. “And so it’s incredibly important that we get our questions answered.”

Vice Chair Rebecca Bernhardt, who previously chaired the commission, said that Chacon’s comments about decorum were directed at her. 

“I don’t think anybody – the people who officially get to shoot people or the people who unofficially shoot people – should be unaccountable,” she said.

“If I raise my voice sometimes, or I get a little angry because representatives of the police department refuse to answer our questions, or I learn that yet another – usually – young man of color in Austin has been stripped of all of his rights by being murdered, probably, by the people who are supposed to keep us safe, I’m going to lose my temper occasionally because I guess I’m not a calm and cool enough cookie to just sit here and be okay … watching mostly young Black men get shot in questionable circumstances and the police department largely not change,” Bernhardt said.

Chacon declined to answer commissioners’ questions about a scheduled agenda item: APD’s controversial license-plate reader program, which may be revived soon after being shelved as a result of major departmental budget cuts in 2020. 

Ramirez said she was disappointed by his decision and had the commission pose its questions anyway, in advance of a soon-to-be-called special meeting to discuss the item. Council is due to consider the program on May 18. 

“I think it’s a real disservice for APD not to be joining us for our meeting, so I don’t know that that’s going to be an acceptable solution moving forward,” she said. “So, we’re going to figure this out.” 

Rebecca Gonzales, who previously served on the commission from 2015 to earlier this year, echoed the sentiment. 

“When APD, (the Austin Fire Department), any public safety agency does not come to the table transparently and collaboratively, it’s a direct affront to the citizens of Austin,” she told the Austin Monitor on Tuesday. 

Ramirez also emphasized the importance of adhering to the city’s meeting procedures, including reminding commissioners to wait to be recognized before speaking.

“I want to do my best to have us operate above reproach so that things aren’t thrown back at us … by APD,” she said. “We’re being accused of not operating by the book, and so I’m trying to tighten things up here so that we can nip that stuff in the bud and just do business.” 

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