Report: APD investigated 47 out of 689 complaints against its officers
Friday, December 22, 2023 by
Emma Freer Austinites voted overwhelmingly last year to expand the Office of Police Oversight’s authority. Implementing the Austin Police Oversight Act, however, has proven challenging.
The office recently faced criticism from the Public Safety Commission over its lack of progress on this front. Equity Action, which spearheaded the act, sued the city on Dec. 5 for its failure to enact the law, including its continued shielding of confidential police personnel records. And the city and police union remain at odds over the terms of a new labor contract, through which certain provisions of the act must be codified.
It was against this fraught backdrop that the Office of Police Oversight recently released its 2022 annual report, which provides a glimpse into its work prior to the last contract’s expiration in March and the passage of the Austin Police Oversight Act in May.
Among the report’s key findings, the OPO received 1,876 contacts – complaints, compliments or requests for general information – from community members in 2022. The most commonly alleged policy violations in external complaints included lack of assistance and lack of courtesy or impartial attitude from police officers.
The office requested that the Austin Police Department investigate 689 external complaints, but APD investigated only 47, or 6.8 percent, of them, according to the report. Of the 47 investigated, 17 resulted in sustained policy violations and disciplinary action.
The report also highlights the OPO’s response to a December 2021 arbitration decision that impacted its scope. In 2020, the Austin Police Association filed a grievance alleging the office had violated its labor contract by investigating complaints of police misconduct. The following year, an arbitrator found the office “had illegally investigated complaints against police officers” and “ordered (the office) to stop doing so,” as The Austin Chronicle reported in January 2022.
As a result of that decision, the Office of Police Oversight didn’t conduct preliminary reviews of external complaints before an investigation had been initiated by APD in 2022, among other changes. Although the office could make recommendations to APD regarding how complaints were classified, the department had sole discretion on the final classification, investigation outcome and resulting disciplinary action, if applicable.
Still, the annual report highlights the office’s “highest percentage of sustained policy violations since 2020.”
The report also includes information about APD’s handling of 202 internal complaints filed in 2022. Of those, APD investigated 161, and 101 resulted in sustained policy violations and disciplinary action.
Overall in 2022, APD disciplined 132 police officers – 113 of whom were the subjects of internal complaints, and 19 the subjects of external complaints. The most common policy violations related to use of department vehicles, general conduct and responsibilities, and responsibility to the community. The last category includes impartial attitude, courtesy and the required use of body cameras.
Additionally, the Office of Police Oversight made 157 recommendations in 2022 regarding APD’s policies and practices, the bulk of which concerned the department’s policies on body and dashboard cameras. The recommendations – issued as part of an October 2022 report – stemmed from a series of resolutions passed by City Council in June 2020 as part of its broader effort to “reimagine public safety.” The annual report does not include information on APD’s uptake of the office’s recommendations.
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