AUSTIN, Texas — For just over two months, the Downtown Austin Alliance's (DAA) safety team has been patrolling the Public Improvement District (PID) in Downtown Austin. This month, the group decided to bump its efforts up, more than doubling the size of the team.
The DAA created the team in May in response to the Austin Police Department's (APD) staffing shortage.
“This really helps allow APD to focus on the bigger crimes than Class C misdemeanors downtown,” Brandon Fahy, the director of Public Space Experience for the DAA, said.
According to the latest data from APD, as of July 1, the city was still short about 330 sworn police officers.
Although these safety team members are not law enforcement officers, they have something unique to offer by patrolling the same areas of downtown each day.
“Many of our people know people experiencing homelessness out here by their first name, and they’ve known them for a very time, and that is really crucial step to helping them get your resolve their homelessness,” Fahy said.
Since the program started, the safety team has had a compliance rate of 86%.
Because of the success the DAA has heard from stakeholders and business owners in the area, they decided to add seven more members to the team at the beginning of July. Beginning with just four, they now have 11 patrolling downtown.
“They’re seeing less of the negative behavior that sometimes can deter customers from coming downtown or even visiting their stores,” Fahy said.
By January 2025, the DAA plans to bring the team up to 23 members.
The safety team members work seven days a week, 365 days a year, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. To addresses the needs during the overnight hours, the DAA also created a nighttime mobile patrol back in May. A one-person team patrols the entertainment and dining district between Congress Avenue and Interstate 35 from Thursday to Sunday from 5 p.m. until 3 a.m.
“This is a safety team member in a truck driving around the area looking for people who may need assistance,” Fahy said. “Also, a goal here is to discourage burglary and vehicles.”
For anyone who still feels unsafe downtown, the safety team also offers escorts in the PID when they are available. If you call (512) 937-7422, someone from the safety team can escort you to or from your car.