Stories by Emma Freer
APD, DPS brief Public Safety Committee on suspended partnership
More than a week after the Austin Police Department announced its controversial partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety had come to a close, law enforcement officials on Monday briefed the city’s Public Safety Committee on the now-defunct deployment…
Police • By Emma Freer • May 24, 2023
Public Safety Commission, APD reach a detente
The Public Safety Commission and the Austin Police Department are recovering from a tense meeting earlier this month, at which APD leadership threatened to no longer attend commission meetings and commissioners lamented APD’s unresponsiveness, revealing a widening chasm. That’s why…
City Hall • By Emma Freer • May 23, 2023
Public Safety Commission greenlights license-plate reader program amid police pushback
The Public Safety Commission voted unanimously on Monday that City Council approve a pilot program reinstating the Austin Police Department’s license-plate reader program – with caveats. Council is due to revisit a new contract for license-plate reader systems and related…
Police • By Emma Freer • May 18, 2023
APD, Public Safety Commission clash over decorum, responsiveness
Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon threatened to withhold his department’s participation in future meetings of the city’s Public Safety Commission, citing a lack of decorum and exposing deep-seated tensions between the two entities. Commissioners, in turn, spoke of APD leadership’s…
Police • By Emma Freer • May 3, 2023
Council OKs license-plate reader contract negotiations, amid community concerns
City Council is taking steps that will allow the Austin Police Department to reintroduce – on a much grander scale – its license-plate reader program, which was shelved as a result of major departmental budget cuts in 2020. Council authorized…
Police • By Emma Freer • Apr 25, 2023
City Council interrogates APD, city staff about DPS partnership
More than three weeks after Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announced a new partnership between the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety, City Council members had a chance to ask APD leadership and city staff about the…
Police • By Emma Freer • Apr 19, 2023
Subscribe to our newsletter
May 2023 Austin election ballot propositions: Voter resource
Austin voters will soon decide the fates of two warring police oversight propositions on the May 6 ballot. The election arrives after more than a year of police labor contract negotiations with the Austin Police Association, which City Council scuttled,…
Elections • By Emma Freer • Apr 14, 2023
New APD-DPS partnership sparks pushback, arrests
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson cited long-standing police staffing shortages, which have led to a “decentralized” approach to traffic enforcement among other things, when he announced last week that the Texas Department of Public Safety would soon begin playing a supportive…
Police • By Emma Freer • Apr 6, 2023
City Council delays vote on police dash-cam contract
City Council voted unanimously to postpone voting on a three-year, $3.8 million contract to update the Austin Police Department’s fleet of dashboard cameras, citing concerns about the vendor’s built-in automated license plate reader, or ALPR, technology. “There’s lots of things…
Police • By Emma Freer • Mar 29, 2023
Report: APD Training Academy curriculum review flawed, hampered by resistance to reform
A third-party evaluation of the Austin Police Department Training Academy’s curriculum review process found it lacked “a clearly defined mission and scope, which hampered its effectiveness from the beginning,” and that it suffered from instructors’ resistance to reform and did…
Police • By Emma Freer • Mar 22, 2023
City Council takes step to restart Community Police Academy
After a three-year pandemic hiatus, the Austin Police Department’s Community Police Academy, a 14-week program designed for members of the public, may soon resume classes. City Council voted last week to direct city staff to report back on the possibility…
Police • By Emma Freer • Mar 15, 2023
Fire, EMS unions echo calls for city to review extreme weather policies
An ice storm last month prompted fears of a Winter Storm Uri redux, with widespread power outages, and concerns among city officials, including about the leadership of since-terminated City Manager Spencer Cronk. Now, fire and EMS union representatives have joined…
