In spite of the praise he has received from city leaders for his response to the Austin bombings, Interim Police Chief Brian Manley is not necessarily a shoo-in to be the next permanent police chief. City Manager Spencer Cronk is still in the process of deciding what to do about the vacant position, which Manley […]
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Council members call for Manley to be made permanent police chief after Austin bombings
Members of City Council want to formally appoint Interim Police Chief Brian Manley as the city’s permanent chief. If a resolution is approved, City Manager Spencer Cronk would need to make the final hiring decision. Shortly after the announcement yesterday of the death of Austin’s serial bomber, Council Member Delia Garza issued a call to […]
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Adding more cops part of APD planning
The Austin Police Department currently has 69 vacancies, Assistant Chief Troy Gay told City Council Tuesday, but with so many officers retiring each month it is nearly impossible to catch up. In addition, the Matrix Consulting Group recommended in 2016 that APD hire 144 new patrol officers, and in 2017 APD proposed adding 329 new […]
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Police sue city over police monitor access
The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, representing Ken Casaday, president of the Austin Police Association, sued the city of Austin on Tuesday, seeking to stop the police monitor from looking at internal affairs records or attending interviews relating to complaints about police behavior in 2018. The police union is seeking a temporary restraining order […]
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Council reinstates some extra police pay
With only City Council Member Greg Casar dissenting, Council voted Thursday to reinstate some incentive pay for Austin police officers to the level that they received under their old contract. That contract expired at the end of December, after Council rejected a new contract worked out by its negotiating team and negotiators for the Austin […]
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Police reform activists call for city-funded nonprofit for police complaints
Representatives of Austin’s police union said Monday that they’re eager to begin negotiations with the new city manager on a contract that can hopefully win approval from City Council. Ron DeLord, an attorney for the Austin Police Association, told members of the Public Safety Commission that the union had put together a new negotiation team, […]
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APD makes final push to get body cameras on all patrol officers
By March, all Austin patrol officers will be wearing body cameras, according to estimates by the Austin Police Department. Currently, 658 body cameras are in use; another 200 will be added. “After that, we’ll be looking to (give them to other) units throughout the department,” said Cmdr. Brent Dupre, who heads the department’s technology unit. […]
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Most Austin police officers will soon have body cameras
It may not be long before every Austin police officer is wearing a body camera. Since October, the Austin Police Department has equipped officers at three of its four substations with body cameras, Assistant Police Chief Ely Reyes told the Public Safety Commission Monday. The department plans to implement the cameras for officers at the […]
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Police decline further contract talks for now
The Austin Police Association on Tuesday resoundingly rejected the City Council’s request that it continue its current contract for a few months and return to the negotiating table. Groups that had urged Council to reject the new contract were apparently surprised by APA’s rejection, which means that Austin police will be operating under Texas Local […]
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Advocates urge more assistance for sexual assault victims
A backlog of evidence going back to the 1990s is not the only major challenge the Austin Police Department has faced in prosecuting sex crimes and helping survivors of sexual assault heal. Advocates for survivors have also said the sex crimes unit is understaffed, with too few cops to investigate sexual assaults and too few […]
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By outsourcing, APD has made major progress on sex assault kit backlog
The Austin Police Department’s embarrassing backlog of sexual assault kits will hopefully soon be a thing of the past. APD told members of the Public Safety Commission Monday that there are 856 kits from the backlog left to be analyzed, down from more than 2,165 in February and more than 4,000 when the police department’s […]
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Public Safety Commission endorses police union contract
Rejecting the pleas of police accountability activists, the Public Safety Commission voted Monday night to recommend the approval of the proposed new union contract between the city of Austin and the Austin Police Association. Both Police Chief Brian Manley and APA President Ken Casaday stressed that if a contract is not approved, police officers will […]