AUSTIN, Texas — Just 10 days after troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) returned to Austin in the midst of staffing shortages within the Austin Police Department (APD), City leaders made the call on Wednesday to suspend the partnership.
"After we've done a lot of calibration, we've listened to the public and we decided that it was an appropriate time," Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said.
Watson cited "recent events" for the decision, including an incident over the weekend that involved DPS troopers drawing their guns on a 10-year-old and his father during a traffic stop. Watson said the partnership was not in sync with Austin's values.
Earlier this spring, data revealed DPS troopers were citing and arresting minorities at disproportionate rates. Nearly nine out of 10 people who were arrested on misdemeanor charges by DPS were either Black or Hispanic.
"It is not a sign of failure to be willing to say, 'Now's the time to try something different.' It is, in fact, a sign that you're being thoughtful, you're looking for ways to meet the needs you need to make," Watson said.
Before the partnership began, DPS troopers patrolled the streets of Austin and had an element of jurisdiction, as they do everywhere across the state. However, the partnership directed troopers to prioritize certain types of policing throughout the city.
DPS confirmed to KVUE that Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered 30 additional troopers to patrol Austin, bringing the total to 130.
"We assure that we have salaries and bonuses, and these sorts of things to attract and retain police officers. We also, as I have also been very clear about, the best way is for us to get to a police contract. And in my view, that requires that Mr. [Thomas] Villarreal, as leader of the police union, [to] come back to the table so that we can have negotiations in that regard," Watson said, alluding to the idea that the City is continuing to look at ways to address the consequences while going back to the drawing board.
KVUE also reached out to Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas' (CLEAT) public affairs, which said in a statement:
"The decision by the interim city manager of Austin and the Mayor to suspend the DPS/APD partnership is outrageous and intolerable.
A few short years ago, the Austin Police Department was fully staffed, fully funded, and considered one of the best law enforcement agencies in the nation. The Austin City Council defunded the police department $150 million, sending the department into a fast-moving downward spiral and we’ve found ourselves with an unprecedented staffing crisis, elevated crime levels, and citizens/victims who can’t get an officer to respond to their location in their time of need.
It’s unfathomable that, after being presented with the FACTS and DATA proving the DPS partnership was successful in protecting our citizens, a decision would be made to
suspend the operation."
Police Chief Joseph Chacon's statement on social media can be found here.