Austin’s sexual assault response: Small steps forward despite federal challenges

Austin and Travis County are facing new federal roadblocks to their work to respond to sexual assault. However, local progress continues.

On Monday, the Public Safety Commission convened their second discussion of local data related to sex crimes. The commission heard presentations from Austin Police Department (APD), the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, and The SAFE Alliance.

Austin’s Collective Sex Crimes Response Model Project (CSCRM) recommended that these three entities share their work with the commission. The group is still trying to identify the best way for the three organizations to publish their information in one place.

“This is an imperfect and temporary solution for cumulatively sharing all of this data,” said Chair Nelly Paulina Ramírez. “What we need is a long term solution where all of this is housed, so that everybody can see all of this data transparently from month to month.”

Deanna Lichter, commander of APD’s Sex Crimes Unit, presented her data first. Calls to APD for sex crimes were 14 percent higher for early 2025 than they were last year.

“We do not believe there is an actual increase in sex crimes throughout the city at this time,” Lichter said. “Due to the known underreporting nationwide in sex crimes, we believe that an increase in call volume actually reflects an improvement in services from APD. More people are feeling comfortable to report these cases to the police.”

Lichter compared trends for adult sex crimes for 2024 and early 2025. She noted a sharp increase in cases beginning in September of 2024 when APD began implementing changes to its case coding system.

“What we see here is actually a reflection of improved data quality and management,” she said.

According to Lichter, one of APD’s current challenges to continuing an investigation after receiving a report is victim readiness. Of 81 felony-level cases from January through March, 37 survivors told APD that they did not want to pursue their cases further.

“We recognize this…encompasses a wide range of situations, and we want to better understand how to support survivors and effectively move their cases forward.” Lichter said. “We always make sure to provide survivors with guidance on reopening cases and the statute of limitations.”

Other cases dropped off after multiple failures to contact survivors for follow-up. In response to a question from Commissioner Rebecca Bernhardt, Lichter said that follow-up is especially challenging with Austin’s unhoused population. APD is currently working on a survey to learn more about survivors’ experiences with the department, which Lichter hopes will be active beginning this fall.

Lichter said APD’s data integrity has been another roadblock. For instance, at least 25 Sex Crimes cases from 2022-2024 were wrongly marked as “Warrant Issued Suspended” when an arrest had in fact been carried out for that warrant. Recent external reviews have identified data integrity as an issue in other aspects of APD’s work, including recruitment and documentation of use of force.

In more positive news, APD is utilizing grant funding to look into alcohol-facilitated sex crimes.

“We find that between 10 and 14 percent of reported cases have a nexus to a bar or nightclub,” Lichter said. Early data indicates that bars with multiple floors, no food service, or few female staff members tend to have more calls for sex crimes. “We are asking those bars to truly be guardians of their patrons,” Lichter added. She noted that this work with bar and nightclub owners is different from the city’s Sip Safely program, which focuses on individual awareness about drink spiking on Sixth Street.

Commander Lichter acknowledged that much of this progress was driven by the CSCRM. The Austin Police Department is also meeting more frequently with the District and County Attorneys’ offices.

Andrea Austin, the recently-appointed director of Travis County’s Special Victims Unit, concurred that collaboration between APD and the county had improved “dramatically”. Her office also meets monthly with CSCRM leaders, and reviews cases quarterly to identify areas for improvement.

Austin said the DA’s office was taking more sex crimes cases to trial than ever before. For instance, there were two jury trials in 2023, nine jury trials in 2024, and there have been eight so far in 2025. Of those eight trials, five resulted in a “guilty” verdict, and three were acquittals. Austin said her team has brought more complex cases to trial, like those involving withdrawal of consent or alcohol-facilitated sexual assault, and cases that rely on a single witness.

Several presenters highlighted ongoing federal roadblocks to this work. “Some of the changes that are happening at the federal level really do impact some of our most vulnerable communities,” Austin said. She added that immigration status is likely becoming more of a factor in some survivors’ willingness to report an assault, let alone move forward with a case.

Leaders from SAFE also acknowledged the federal changes. “We’re obviously monitoring grant funding right now,” said Paula Marks, Director of Forensic Nursing.

Marks, together with Holly Bowles, Director of Victim Advocacy, and Allison Kolb, Vice President of Community Services, presented two other obstacles SAFE is currently facing: credentialing of their forensic nurses at external exam locations (like hospitals) and language barriers.

SAFE recently upgraded to a new clinic space that has five exam rooms. This has expanded the organization’s capacity, but it means that any Spanish-speaking staff members on duty may already be with another client when a request comes in. A lack of full-time Spanish speaking staff has led to occasional unfulfilled requests for advocates to accompany survivors to meetings or law enforcement interviews. SAFE does contract with an external interpreter service for medical exams, but trauma-informed standards for interpretation are different outside of medical settings. SAFE has been working with Asian Family Support Services of Austin and other local partners to expand their language access capabilities. 

When SAFE is not able to meet a request (for any reason), they refer a survivor to partner organizations.

“In times past we have completely lost people,” said Marks. “That was a challenge that we experienced a few years ago that we really tried to address. …We wanted to make sure that even if we weren’t able to see (someone) at that time…we did a warm handoff to another program that was able to see them.”

Commissioner Yasmine Smith asked whether SAFE can track whether people actually receive services after a handoff. Marks said SAFE tries to coordinate rides to other providers, but cannot confirm what happens after a handoff due to privacy laws. Smith asked SAFE to consider options for survivors to consent to data sharing after being transferred. “That one step in the process (the transfer) might be the one step that is too much for that victim,” Smith said.

Marks also highlighted the options SAFE offers survivors seeking help. These include medical treatment, guidance on reporting an assault, and accompaniment to external appointments. “It’s important for everyone to recognize that if you are an adult in the state of Texas, you can (choose to) receive care without involving law enforcement,” Marks said.

According to Bowles, SAFE has a high rate of successful follow-up contact with survivors: 62 percent compared to a norm of 10-15 percent in a medical setting.

Commissioners seemed to be generally heartened by the progress and collaboration being reported, despite a prior delay in getting some of this data from APD. Ramírez expressed her appreciation after the first presentation: “That was worth the wait.”

 

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