AUSTIN, Texas — Some Austin city leaders are concerned after the large police presence during the pro-Palestinian protests on the University of Texas at Austin campus led to more than 100 arrests over the past two weeks.
“Seeing the massive amounts of police presence, especially DPS in riot gear, it was shocking,” Ryan Alter, Austin City Councilmember for District 5, said.
Alter, along with Councilmembers Zohaib "Zo" Qadri of District 9 and José “Chito” Vela of District 4, have requested an executive legal briefing on the Austin Police Department’s (APD) role in responding to the protests.
“Quelling First Amendment speech is not necessarily something that our department should be spending their time on,” Alter said.
Travis County Attorney Delia Garza also expressed similar concerns to the public earlier this week after 79 protesters were arrested on Monday.
“When large numbers of APD officers, for example, are sent to assist and round up protesters for criminal trespass charges, that means less officers are available for other calls like domestic violence and assaults,” Garza said in a press conference.
Garza also addressed the strain these arrests are putting on Travis County’s criminal justice resources. Garza told KVUE that usually, the Travis County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) will book about 85 people per day. So to book an additional 79 people this Monday was nearly a 100% booking increase.
“Our system was overwhelmed,” Garza said.
Garza said the reason all of last week’s charges were dropped against the arrested protesters was because attorneys found deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits.
“If you’re taking somebody’s liberty away, you need to be very specific on why you’re doing it and what you did and what happened,” Garza said.
But Garza said Monday’s affidavits were much more detailed, which means her office will spend a lot more time investigating each case. And with already over 28,000 other cases in her office, she’s calling on UT to change its approach to stopping these protests.
“We’re seeing the strain, Travis County is seeing the strain. And I, you know, I think we would appreciate to understand what is, kind of what’s the endgame here,” Garza said.
This is also creating a ripple effect in the amount of time people are waiting in Travis County's jails. Garza said because those additional almost 80 people have to be processed, some people with no connection to the protests at UT end up sitting in jail longer than they normally would.
Garza also believes the situation has become more political, with Gov. Greg Abbott making the request to send state troopers in to stop these protests.
“It feels like we are being asked to, you know, we’re being asked to strain all these resources because Governor Abbott does not necessarily like the expression that’s happening at the University of Texas, and that’s not what the system should be used for,” Garza said.
There was supposed to be another pro-Palestine rally this Wednesday, but it was postponed to May 5. Garza said if the next protest leads to a similar number of arrests as the last two, it will put even more strain on her office.
“It’s not sustainable to continue, to have a bunch of low-level nonviolent arrests,” Garza said.