Staff shortages are still a problem at APD

Before a scheduled briefing on the Austin Police Department’s community policing program, members of the City Council Public Safety Committee heard a pitch from Ethan Cheramie of On Scene Services proposing that his company take over the duties of officers who respond to motor vehicle collisions in Austin.

Cheramie, the only speaker during citizen communication at the meeting on Monday, explained that his company had taken over responding to traffic incidents in New Orleans and Baltimore. He urged committee members to work on any impediments the city’s Law Department might have found to such an arrangement. However, committee members did not express any thoughts about letting Cheramie’s company take over traffic or other APD duties. So it seems unlikely that APD will solve its vacancy problem by hiring an outside group.

At the same time that the department is focusing on recruiting and training new officers, APD has created its first five-year strategic plan, which covers 2024 through 2029, according to Commander Lee Davis, who described the department’s community policing efforts to the committee. One goal of the strategic plan is for the department to be trusted and respected by everyone in the community, acknowledged as not an easy task.

He noted that because of staff shortages it is difficult to sit down with community members and get to know them. There are certain things police officers can no longer do, he said, because they simply don’t have the time. If someone asks an officer to sit down for coffee or a meal, they simply may not have the time. However, Davis said he personally is working on a project at Givens Park, which he recalls from his childhood.

Davis said many of the problems APD deals with are not exclusively within the purview of the police. For example, he said homelessness is a public safety problem that other entities need to deal with.

Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills said later that there are about 70 cadets starting training in the APD academy right now.

“It’s going to take time, but they’re building it back,” he said. According to a spokesperson for APD, the department had 1,484 sworn officers as of June 3 out of 1,812 authorized.

Mayor Kirk Watson told the Austin Monitor after the meeting, “The No. 1 thing we have to do is finish our contract with the police. As you know, we are in negotiations on that. And that continues to go, I think, in a positive direction.”

Council Member Mackenzie Kelly said, “I still think we have a long way to go when it comes to (resolving) the staffing crisis at the Austin Police Department. We have over 500 vacancies currently, and that puts the city at a disadvantage, where a lot of our officers are running from call to call to call because they are being taken away from their specialized units and being put on patrol for important calls.”

She said she was pleased that 39 cadets had just graduated from the academy, but concluded, “we have a long way to go.”

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