On Monday, the Public Safety Commission heard an update on the Office of Police Oversight’s implementation of the Police Oversight Act, as well as its vacancies and hiring processes.
The OPO operates separately from the Austin Police Department, and its mission is to enhance public transparency and accountability through impartial oversight of APD. As part of its work, the OPO investigates feedback on public interactions with the police department and makes policy recommendations.
The department is currently hiring for four vacancies. Director Gail McCant told the commission that the OPO is in the final stages of hiring for a complaint supervisor and a public information-related role, and is reviewing applications for a community engagement-focused position and a policy analyst. The department recently hired a “floating” temporary employee to help mitigate the impact of these vacancies.
Commission Chair Nelly Paulina Ramírez asked what accounted for the delay in filling these positions, noting that the OPO had spoken to the commission in 2024 about the need to hire more staff.
“There was even a citywide memo that went out that (said) you guys needed staff desperately to fill all the … requests (for public information related to APD’s G-file on police misconduct) and it’s been five months (since then),” she noted.
McCant said it had been difficult to recruit for the specific skill sets needed for several of the roles, leading to extended application periods for several of the jobs in order to draw in qualified applicants.
OPO staff also provided an update on the Community Police Review Commission. The Austin Police Oversight Act (APOA), approved by voters in May 2023, changed requirements for commission members. The OPO has been tasked with reestablishing this 11-member commission. Members have been selected and onboarded and are now in the training phase.
Sara Peralta, a public information and marketing program manager with the OPO, said that the training included content from city law, APD and the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. Commission members also noted that the review commission training was taking longer than the 90-day completion timeline allocated in the APOA.
McCant shared some data from a pending departmental report that will publish combined data from 2023 and 2024. A report was due for 2023, which has been delayed by over a year. The combined report is expected to publish this spring.
In 2023, the office investigated 578 complaints and 99 compliments related to public interactions with the police. McCant emphasized that the OPO reviews all footage from APD body and dashboard cameras related to these events. In 2024, these numbers increased to 641 complaints and 114 compliments, resulting in 31 disciplinary recommendations to APD. The department also analyzed 65 APD policies last year, making 26 recommendations, and attended at least 50 events in both 2023 and 2024 to connect with community members.
Per the APOA, all recent reports made to the office must be published. Commissioner Timothy Ruttan noted that he could not find all recent complaints online. McCant said the OPO was currently working to redact and upload those documents for 2022 and 2023.
“While the APOA provides the ability … to publish those documents, we want to make sure we are not having a chilling effect on complainants’ ability to file complaints,” she added. “We want to make sure we are not publishing complainants’ names and other (sensitive) information.”
Ruttan suggested the OPO prioritize uploading the current incoming complaints, and then work backward.
McCant said she hoped OPO staff would be invited back to a future commission meeting to discuss the combined 2023 and 2024 report in more detail after its publication.
Ramírez emphasized that the APOA included an annual reporting requirement.
“I appreciate all the engagement that you guys are doing, but it’s not in compliance,” she said. “This is, I think, just the bigger picture. … In May it will be two years (since the APOA was passed).
“That is too long,” she said.
Ramírez said she was “concerned and excited” about the progress. “I would love to have you guys back (at the commission) with the annual report published so we can talk about … the information the community has access to.”
During the briefing, OPO staff also highlighted their quarterly APOA implementation working group meetings with the community. The next in-person meeting will be announced soon and will take place in May.
Other topics on the agenda included a quarterly report from Austin-Travis County EMS, a discussion of local opioid use and mitigation efforts, a briefing on Austin Police Training Academy’s chain of command and progress of data informed analytics related to an external review, plus the upcoming budget process for Fiscal Year 2026.
Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.
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Austin Police Department: the law enforcement entity for the City of Austin.
Public Safety Commission: The Public Safety Commission is a City Council advisory body charged with oversight of budgetary and policy matters concerning public safety These include matters related to the Austin Police Department, the Austin Fire Department, and the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services Department."
