Members of Austin’s Public Safety Commission approved a resolution on Monday calling for a full audit of the progress made on police training academy reforms. In November, 2020, the city hired Kroll Associates to review and evaluate the Austin Police Department (APD) on the extent to which discrimination, racism and bigotry are present in […]
Police
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Austin police canceled a shelter-in-place order while a shooter was on the loose
People in parts of Austin were told Wednesday morning just after 6:30 that a man who shot a police officer and another person near Zilker Park was no longer a threat. But, he was. The man was still at-large just outside an elementary school – armed and on the run from police. The Austin Police […]
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Public Safety Commission clashes with Office of Police Oversight
“It deeply concerns me that we’ve put a retired police officer in charge of taking complaints from the community about police,” Commissioner Rebecca Bernhardt told staff from Austin’s Office of Police Oversight (OPO) during a heated Public Safety Commission meeting this month. The OPO was scheduled to present an overdue annual report for 2023 (which […]
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Study finds Austin police response times continue to lag
Austin police officers took on average just over 45 minutes to respond to 911 calls last year, a new study found. The analysis from national crime data expert Jeff Asher found the department’s average response times consistently increased over five years, going from 29 minutes in 2019 to nearly 47 minutes last year. Austin’s worsening response […]
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Still-nascent police oversight commission pushes for transparent review of all complaints
Since the passage of the voter-approved Austin Police Oversight Act two years ago, the mission of the Community Police Review Commission has been continually thwarted and delayed. It wasn’t until in August 2024 a judge ruled that APD must make public its secret “G file” of police misconduct that the Oversight Act outlawed and the […]
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City delays decision on license plate reader program
After a prolonged discussion during Tuesday’s City Council work session, a proposed extension of the city’s Automated License Plate Reader program is no longer under consideration. “Given concerns expressed today, I have decided to withdraw this item from the agenda at this time to provide more opportunities to address council members’ questions and do our […]
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Austin has paid out $27 million to people injured by police during 2020 racial justice protests
Austin has paid out nearly $30 million to settle lawsuits over police conduct during protests following George Floyd’s murder five years ago. Most of the settlements were related to injuries caused by police using shotguns to fire lead-pellet bags at demonstrators outside the department’s headquarters in May 2020. A wave of lawsuits followed over police […]
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External review finds data inconsistencies in APD reporting on use of force
During a special called meeting of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, Dr. Robin Engel, a Senior Research Scientist at The Ohio State University, presented findings from a recent re-examination of the Austin Police Department’s use of force. Engel said she found the department’s data analyses to be “rudimentary, inconsistent, and inaccurate,” among other concerns. […]
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Audit flags oversight gaps in APD license plate reader pilot
A recent audit of the Austin Police Department’s License Plate Reader (LPR) program found that while the department largely complied with policies during the yearlong pilot, internal audit procedures and vendor contracts left room for improvement and potential privacy risks. The findings were presented to the City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee this week, as […]
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Two Years after the Austin Police Oversight Act passed, Community Police Review Commission finally meets
The first meeting of Austin’s long-awaited Community Police Review Commission (CPRC) was marked by urgency and undergirded by a strong sense of duty to a community that has been expecting this meeting for years. The formation of a civilian body to oversee and hold the Austin Police Department accountable should have happened in 2023, after […]
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After court ruling, APD says it won’t cite people for small amounts of marijuana — for now
When an appeals court struck down Austin’s marijuana decriminalization ordinance late last month, confusion and disappointment flooded social media. “So am I a criminal now?” Reddit user Environmental_Ad3964 commented. “So.. I’m kinda confused about what this accomplishes,” another user wrote. Good question, u/DrDrago-4. In the immediate future, the appeals court ruling will not change much about how […]
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Police oversight report shows progress in 2023 data
The Office of Police Oversight received more than 1,500 public contacts in 2023, forwarding 578 complaints to the Austin Police Department and recommending 215 for investigation, according to the agency’s newly released annual report. Of those, APD investigated 138 cases and sustained policy violations in 11, resulting in eight oral reprimands and six written reprimands. […]