Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog

The term of Austin Mayor Steve Adler was so disasterous that it’s wrecking havoc on Austin even after he’s out of office. The massive scores of drug-addicted transients still plague Austin, and the defunding attempt that, at heart, was a massive cash grab for far leftwing activists. All that, and the election of Soros-backed leftwing DA Jose Garza, has brought about a crisis in Austin policing.

Severely understaffed, defunded Austin PD on verge of retirement wave after city council ‘pulls rug out’ again

Police sources told Fox News Digital that 150 officers have made appointments inquiring about their retirement options

Austin police facing staffing shortages as 911 wait times soar…

Austin police officers past and present are warning Fox News Digital that the Texas capital’s police force critically depleted as a result of defunding in 2020 is on the verge of losing another wave of officers in response to a breakdown between the city and the police on a new contract.

An Austin Police Department source told Fox News Digital this week that 40 officers have filed their retirement papers following a 9-2 city council vote a few weeks ago to scrap a four-year contract that the city had previously agreed to in principle and instead pursue a 1-year contract that the police union’s board has rejected.

That move is believed by many to be due to intense pressure from anti-police activists in the city who look to hold off a long term deal until after voters decide on competing ballot initiatives dealing with “police oversight” that go before voters in May.

“It’s my opinion that the radicals and activists in the city have such a grip on our elected officials that at some point in time over the last year or so their plans changed,” the source, who is an Austin Police Department officer, said. “They said O.K. now we’re going to get signatures for this ballot initiative in May and switch gears and put pressure on city leadership to move away from a four-year deal to a one-year deal because the four-year is detrimental to what we are trying to accomplish.”

Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Police Retired Officers Association, told Fox News Digital he knows of 35 officers from the department that have filed retirement papers and at least six of them are “high ranking officers.”

“I fear we’re going to see a mass exodus of the senior people with longevity to where you’re going to have a department where maybe the average service time was in the high teens now and I think it’s going to drop into the low teens,” Farris said, explaining that departments without strong senior leadership often experience more problems due to “inexperience.”

Farris said that two waves of retirements, officers who have already filed and officers who will file when the contract officially expires at the end of March, could result in as many as 100 retirements. Two police sources told Fox News Digital that 150 officers have reached out to the retirement board in the last few days to discuss options.

The situation has gotten so bad that street racers felt no compunction about blocking off streets just south of downtown and doing donuts.

No wonder Dallas is trying to poach officers from APD.

Is there hope on the horizon? Some. Newly installed mayor Kirk Watson, though a Democrat, rejects Adler’s Social Justice Warrior “police defunding” policies. And Watson has helped forge a stopgap solution to the immediate crisis: Having DPS troopers assist with Austin policing.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will supplement troopers to Austin Police Department (APD) shifts for assistance with the city’s staffing crisis.

The City of Austin announced the partnership with DPS on Monday, with Mayor Kirk Watson saying, “During my run for mayor, I promised we would make city government work better in providing basic services.”

“This is an example of that. It’s a common-sense, practical response to a serious need and arose out of a positive working relationship between the Capital City and the Capitol of Texas. I want to thank Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and DPS Director Steven McCraw for being willing to step in and work with us to ensure the safety of our shared constituents.”

DPS officers’ primary focus in conjunction with the agreement will be on traffic response, but may provide backup to city police during emergencies.

APD Chief Joseph Chacon added, “This is a wonderful resource and partnership that will provide relief to our APD officers and detectives who want nothing more than to focus on keeping Austin safe — whether that’s responding to domestic violence incidents, combatting DWI, or investigating criminal activity.”

Similar agreements have been implemented in Dallas and San Antonio, and Austin says it will come at no cost to the city. DPS has assisted APD before, including during last month’s breakout of street takeovers.

This is only a stopgap. The real solution is to immediately start recruiting and training more APD officers, and voting out Garza and all the pro-defunding, anti-police Austin City Council members who helped Adler get the city into this mess.

Tags: Austin, Crime, Dan Patrick, Democrats, Greg Abbott, Kirk Watson, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Texas DPS

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2023 at 8:15 PM and is filed under Border Control, Budget, Crime, Democrats, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.