AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Council has taken a step toward improving police data transparency practices.
On Thursday, the council approved a resolution from José “Chito” Vela (District 4) that lays out specific requirements for format, content and frequency of data publication by the Austin Police Department (APD).
The resolution will require the City of Austin to publish an extensive data set once a month. Vela said he and his staff worked closely with City leadership, the APD and public data experts to develop a resolution that protects the privacy of crime victims while also providing the public with information.
“The Austin Police Department is an organization filled with people who strive to protect our city,” Vela said. “I am proud to bring forward an item which gives policymakers and the public an opportunity to use good data to drive public safety decisions.”
Vela said he looks forward to "seeing multiple analyses of our policing data conducted both inside and outside City Hall" and that "publishing these numbers will allow for more robust and informed public engagement on crime and safety topics in Austin.”
Interim APD Chief Robin Henderson was present for the council meeting and answered questions about the department's current data systems.
Henderson said it may take a while for APD to compile all of the data the council is asking for each month because not all data is stored on the same system.
Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly (District 6) voted "no" on the resolution because of her concerns that the new enhanced data release will add more stress on APD's already backed-up public information requests.
Vela said he hopes it will do the opposite.
“Once we have a public-facing dashboard, the public will simply be able to go to the dashboard and get that information, and that should reduce the amount of public information requests that they get," Vela said. "The police department today is in support of this, and they're in support of this because they know they need help with their public information requests."
Vela also said the enhanced data release will keep the community more informed and help council make better policy decisions.
“That's, I think, just such an important step for our community for improving public safety and, really, for a better and wiser spending of our tax dollars," Vela said.
The resolution was co-sponsored by Councilmembers Vanessa Fuentes (District 2), José Velásquez (District 3), Ryan Alter (District 5) and Alison Alter (District 10).
Now that the resolution has been approved, the council will work to create a resource plan for the data release. They aim to have that plan by December and expect to publish the first "Open Policing Data Release" next March.