AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin released new information showing the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) initial impact on wrecks and emergency call times by council district.
In March, the Austin Police Department (APD) formed a partnership with DPS because of police shortages.
“The core goals of the partnership are to reduce APD response time to Austinites placing 911 emergency calls for service, to reduce incidents of violent crime and to reduce the number of fatal and injury crashes on our roadways,” Austin’s partnership webpage stated.
The partnership was announced on March 27, 2023, but was put on hold in mid-May. That's when DPS was temporarily reassigned to patrol the Texas-Mexico border.
On July 3, records showing a decrease in response time for each city council district were released. The records compare data from before the DPS partnership – between March 26, 2022, and March 25, 2023 – with the initial start of the DPS partnership from April 2, 2023, to May 13, 2023.
District 1: decreased by 51 seconds
- From 9 minutes, 39 seconds to eight minutes, 48 seconds
District 2: decreased by 51 seconds
From 9 minutes, 24 seconds to eight minutes, 33 seconds
District 3: decreased by 1 minute and 9 seconds
From 8 minutes, 17 seconds to seven minutes, 8 seconds
District 4: decreased by 54 seconds
From 8 minutes, 46 seconds to seven minutes, 52 seconds
District 5: decreased by 32 seconds
From 9 minutes, 4 seconds to 8 minutes, 32 seconds
District 6: decreased by 50 seconds
From 11 minutes, 7 seconds to 10 minutes, 17 seconds
District 7: decreased by 52 seconds
From 10 minutes, 4 seconds to 9 minutes, 12 seconds
District 8: decreased by 13 seconds
From 10 minutes, 28 seconds to 10 minutes, 15 seconds
District 9: decreased by 32 seconds
From 7 minutes, 47 seconds to 7 minutes, 15 seconds
District 10: decreased by 1 minute, 34 seconds
From 1 minutes, 6 seconds to 9 minutes, 32 seconds
According to the record, the initial DPS partnership resulted in 3,775 citywide emergency calls for service, with District 3 having the most calls, 555. The district covers West Interstate 35 from Oltorf Street to Stassney Lane through East Austin from Ben White Boulevard to Downtown’s East Seventh Street and eastward to Highway 183/Ed Bluestein Boulevard.
According to the data, for the 41 days, the daily average would be approximately 92 calls per day.
The records do not show call volume for the exact period in 2022. However, records show an average of 97 daily citywide emergency calls for service between March 26, 2022, and March 25, 2023.
The median is not able to be assessed from the report.
To compare year-over-year, the KVUE Defenders pulled APD’s Chief’s Monthly Report showing May 2022 and May 2023. According to the chief's monthly report, there was a 12% decrease in 2023 for crimes against persons, a 9% decrease for crimes against property and an 8% increase for crimes against society.
It’s not clear if those decreases in crimes were because of the DPS partnership since the department's deployment ended in mid-May.
However, April’s year-over-year totals also show a decrease in crimes against persons (-10%), crimes against property (-18%) and crimes against society (-3%). DPS served alongside APD during the entire month.
April 2022 top crimes:
Crimes against persons
- Simple assault (827)
- Intimidation (420)
- Aggravated assault (337)
Crimes against property
- Burglary of vehicle (781)
- “All other larceny” (673)
- Vandalism (465)
Crimes against society
- Drug violations (322)
- Weapon law violations (99)
- Drug equipment violations (64)
April 2023 top crimes:
Crimes against persons
- Simple assault (776)
- Intimidation (366)
- Aggravated assault (276)
Crimes against property
- Burglary of vehicle (652)
- “All other larceny” (522)
- Auto theft (509)
Crimes against society
- Drug violations (303)
- Drug equipment violations (85)
- Weapon law violations (73)
On June 30, APD sent a memo to Mayor Kurt Watson and City Council stating, “The partnership has proven to be a valuable tool in addressing safety needs in light of critically low staffing levels and, to further foster trust, APD is committed to providing data in a transparent manner.”
Below is a breakdown of the emergency calls received according to each district.
In the report, District 2 had the highest number of wrecks during the initial DPS partnership (260), none of which were reported as fatal. Whereas, District 3 reported having the highest number of deadly wrecks (3) between April 3, 2023, to May 13, 2023.
“Moving forward, APD will report regularly to keep councilmembers and the public informed of what is occurring in each geographic district, including the time period when the partnership was paused due to DPS redeployment in another area of the state,” according to the memo sent to the City.
DPS resumed its partnership with APD on July 2.