Coalition forms to fight public safety misinformation

A coalition of eight organizations has launched a new #AustinIsSaferWhen campaign aimed at fighting misinformation about the Austin police budget. “I’ve been talking to a lot of people who think police were fired, or have been told that budget cuts mean police can’t do their job,” Austin Justice Coalition’s Chas Moore said. “None of that is true, but I understand why people are confused. Anti-civil rights politicians and police unions are using this budget decision to scare voters, and they don’t mind lying about what happened. It is a shame. So we’re setting the record straight, and our members are sending a message that Austin supports what the Council did.” The coalition, which is composed of Austin DSA, Austin Justice Coalition, Just Liberty, MEASURE, Survivor Justice Project, Texas Appleseed, Texas Fair Defense Project, and Workers Defense Project launched a petition supporting an APD budget cut and reinvestment. The petition, which had gathered more than 2,500 signatures on Monday, can be found at AustinIsSaferWhen.org along with more information about the group and the actions taken by Austin City Council during this past budget process. In August, Council voted to cut $20 million from the police budget, with a promise to look at $150 million of the approved budget for reallocation to other departments and services.