I'm very concerned about what is continuing to happen to this city
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AUSTIN, Texas - An internal document shared confidentially with FOX 7 Austin indicates several specialized units within the Austin Police Department could be dissolved as early as August 1.
Units listed in the document include:
"This is part of the defunding, people like to call it ‘reimagining’ we call it defunding," he said, referring to a 2020 decision by Austin City Council to cut up to $150 million from the police department. The cut is approximately 34 percent of the department's budget. More than $20 million previously dedicated to overtime and cadet classes was cut immediately.
A reduction of 150 Austin Police Department positions and reductions to the overtime budget left the department unable to backfill overtime. Former Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said that "necessitated the need to actually move officers back into patrol" from specialized units.
"Some [officers] probably will retire and some of them probably will put on a patrol uniform and get back into cars and patrol different areas of town. Their priority is answering our 911 calls, but believe me, the city sadly will pay for this in death and serious injury," said Casaday.
Wayne Vincent, a retired APD officer, said this is the "worst-case scenario."
"What the city is being forced to do because they’re at critical short handedness is pull everybody out of these critical units and put them into patrol to give the public a false perception that we’re not critically short," said Vincent
Internal document: Several APD specialized units dissolving amid budget cuts
An internal document shared confidentially with FOX 7 indicates several specialized units within the Austin Police Department could be dissolved as early as August 1.
AUSTIN, Texas - An internal document shared confidentially with FOX 7 Austin indicates several specialized units within the Austin Police Department could be dissolved as early as August 1.
Units listed in the document include:
- Criminal interdiction
- District representatives, or ‘community police’
- Crisis intervention
- "Crash", a family violence victim safety and stalking task force
- Lake Patrol
- Commercial vehicle enforcement
- Vehicle abatement
- Metropolitan Tactical Team - C
- Patrol K9
- ARIC / Strategic Intelligence
- Mounted Patrol
"This is part of the defunding, people like to call it ‘reimagining’ we call it defunding," he said, referring to a 2020 decision by Austin City Council to cut up to $150 million from the police department. The cut is approximately 34 percent of the department's budget. More than $20 million previously dedicated to overtime and cadet classes was cut immediately.
A reduction of 150 Austin Police Department positions and reductions to the overtime budget left the department unable to backfill overtime. Former Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said that "necessitated the need to actually move officers back into patrol" from specialized units.
"Some [officers] probably will retire and some of them probably will put on a patrol uniform and get back into cars and patrol different areas of town. Their priority is answering our 911 calls, but believe me, the city sadly will pay for this in death and serious injury," said Casaday.
Wayne Vincent, a retired APD officer, said this is the "worst-case scenario."
"What the city is being forced to do because they’re at critical short handedness is pull everybody out of these critical units and put them into patrol to give the public a false perception that we’re not critically short," said Vincent
