AUSTIN, Texas — Two advocacy groups are asking for transparency from Austin officials after last week's announcement that Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers would be helping the Austin Police Department (APD) with patrols.
On March 27, APD and DPS announced that troopers would begin working with APD officers to patrol the city amid what officials call an urgent need caused by staffing shortages.
The City of Austin said that the state troopers will focus on violent crime and traffic issues, as well as provide backup for other emergency situations. DPS troopers began their patrols of Austin on March 30.
While this is an unprecedented arrangement for Austin, DPS troopers – who have statewide jurisdiction – have provided additional support in cities like Dallas and San Antonio to reduce crime rates, according to the City of Austin.
However, when DPS helped out Dallas in 2019, some City leaders there called for their removal, believing the troopers were targeting certain groups. Troopers made 9,000 traffic stops in South Dallas in seven weeks alone.
Now the ACLU of Texas and the Austin Justice Coalition (AJC) are pushing back on Austin's decision to bring DPS troopers in to help APD. The ACLU announced on Twitter Tuesday that the two groups have filed an open records request in response to Mayor Kirk Watson's decision to partner with the agencies.
The ACLU called the arrangement an "overreach" that "disregarded Austin's hard-earned wins to ensure police accountability and transparency," all without public input.
"DPS has a record of making communities across Texas less safe. From DPS’s lethal mismanagement during the Uvalde school shooting to their anti-immigrant role in Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, they've shown a lack of accountability, transparency, and concern for local," the ACLU said.
The ACLU concluded its message by saying that "we can't arrest our way out of homelessness, unemployment, and poverty" and that investing in services like affordable housing and job training "is a more effective solution than overpolicing and intimidation."
"DPS has no place patrolling Austin, monitoring our communities, and criminalizing our neighbors," the organization added. "We have reason to worry that DPS's involvement will lead to more stops and citations, creating unnecessary contacts with law enforcement — especially for people of color."
Savannah Kumar, an attorney with the ACLU, said due to the DPS troopers' track record in the state, they could cause more harm than good.
"If the concern really is about needing more support to keep Austin safe, to give community members the resources that they need. Then bringing in DPS, which has failed in other parts of the state and has actually exacerbated risk, seems to be doing the opposite of what Austin needs right now," Kumar said. "The pretext for agreeing to bring DPS in might have been to make Austin safer. But unfortunately, DPS has a track record across the state, has shows that DPS has made communities less safe, not more."
The ACLU and AJC are asking the Austin City Council to shut the arrangement down.