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Police

City Council takes step to restart Community Police Academy

After a three-year pandemic hiatus, the Austin Police Department’s Community Police Academy, a 14-week program designed for members of the public, may soon resume classes. City Council voted last week to direct city staff to report back on the possibility…

City announces police pay package ahead of police labor contract expiration

The city of Austin announced a plan to preserve police pay and benefits and to address long-standing staffing shortages when the current police labor contract expires at the end of this month with no likely successor in place. “We are…

Council adopts ordinance to preserve police benefits

City Council voted unanimously Thursday to approve an ordinance that preserves the pay and benefits Austin police officers currently receive and directs interim City Manager Jesús Garza to come up with incentives for new recruits to the department. Council also directed Garza…

Mayor seeks to add sweeteners to ordinance for cops

At Tuesday’s City Council work session, Mayor Kirk Watson added some details to the police pay and benefits ordinance that will be on this Thursday’s agenda. Council Member Ryan Alter authored the proposal in line with ideas Watson outlined on…

Ordinance would extend officer benefits if police labor contract expires

City Council will consider an ordinance Thursday that would preserve the current police labor contract’s provisions for officer pay and benefits, even if the contract expires without a successor in place, after the Austin Police Association said it wouldn’t negotiate…

Austin police investigate series of street racing incidents over the weekend

Lee esta historia en español. The Austin Police Department is investigating a series of incidents over the weekend in which cars were racing and blocking traffic. One officer was injured and multiple law enforcement vehicles were damaged, APD said. Between Saturday night…

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Council directs negotiators to bring back one-year police contract

City Council voted 9-2 on Wednesday to instruct staff and outside counsel to negotiate a one-year extension of the current contract between the city and the Austin Police Association without taking an explicit position on a four-year deal announced last…

Council delays vote on one-year police contract extension, citing confusion

After nearly a year of negotiations, with just seven weeks to go until the current police labor contract expires, with city staff and the police union working to finalize a tentative four-year agreement and in the run-up to a local…

CM Vela proposes one-year police labor contract extension

As the city of Austin and the Austin Police Association continue to negotiate a new, four-year labor contract, several Council members have endorsed a short-term extension of the current agreement that would allow voters a chance to weigh in.  District…

Public Safety Commission calls out APD’s resistance to training academy reform

The city’s Public Safety Commission criticized the Austin Police Department for stonewalling a committee formed by City Council in 2021 to review the police training academy curriculum as part of a broader push to “reimagine” public safety. “Just to summarize,…

City, police union move toward removing OPO from labor contract

With less than three months until the current police labor contract expires, the city of Austin and the Austin Police Association recently returned to the bargaining table and moved closer toward consensus regarding civilian oversight of the Austin Police Department. …

Judge denies motions to dismiss in Mike Ramos civil suit

In a Sunday ruling denying qualified immunity to the Austin police officer who fatally shot Mike Ramos, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman sharply criticized the city’s handling of excessive force incidents. The ruling stems from the civil suit filed against…

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