AUSTIN -- As the population in Austin goes up, the city of Austin is looking into increasing it's police presence.
As city leaders talked about finding more money to pay for more police officers on Monday, one of the biggest concerns was "community policing."
According to a 2016 report, Austin police had the lowest involvement time with the community, not allowing police officers to build relationships and trust with the neighborhoods they serve.
Currently, there are more than 1,900 people who take part in the police force -- and about 84 positions are vacant.
Several community members at the meeting say more officers will provide better protection with the increase in population.
"What we obviously would see is the difficulty in engaging with the community," said Chief Manley.
"The fewer police officers we have, the more tied up they'll be with just running the calls," he explained.
Chief Manley said at least 56 more staff members are necessary, some who would be behind the scenes helping keep up with new cases.
The city council will now have to decide If more police officers should be included in this year's budget.
You can apply for the Austin Police Department here.