State court rules Austin must release files on police complaints. Here’s what that means.

Austin police must release records of officer complaints previously kept in house to the police oversight office, a state district judge has ruled.

The personnel files – known colloquially as “g-files” – were a cornerstone of the Austin Police Oversight Act, which passed last year. Under the act, records of any complaint – even if no disciplinary action was taken – must be handed over to the civilian-led Office of Police Oversight. The police department has historically kept those files from public view.

In her ruling last week, Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel said the city and APD “unlawfully failed to perform their mandatory duty to end the City of Austin’s use of the g file.'”

By violating the city charter, she ruled, the city was violating state law.

Austin previously said it was unsure how to implement the referendum, which voters approved by a 4-to-1 margin, because police officers have a swath of protections under state law regarding employment information.

The criminal justice nonprofit Equity Action, which filed the lawsuit, said the ruling ushers in a new level of oversight of the complaint process and the department writ large.

Kathy Mitchell of Equity Action told KUT the decision means Austin has been violating state law since the referendum passed.

“The city should take a breath. It has now been told by a judge that it has been violating the law since May of last year,” she said. “It needs to stop, take a breath and decide what its baseline is.”

Mitchell said it’s common for police departments to release complaint information previously held in a g-file. She said Dallas, for example, allows public disclosure of complaint-related information. T.C. Broadnax was the city manager in Dallas before recently taking that job in Austin.

The city and the Austin Police Department said it’s unclear how the ruling should be interpreted.

The ruling could upend negotiations on a police labor contract that had been nearing the homestretch. Talks surrounding how to implement the APOA – and the city’s practice of maintaining a g-file – was front and center in those talks.

An unnamed city spokesperson said Austin “is currently reviewing the decision and will have discussions with City leaders on potential next steps in the coming days.”

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

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