Good Tuesday afternoon --
When you are standing too close, you cannot always see how all of the pieces to a puzzle fit together -- or what the puzzle picture shows.
Now, we can see clearly.
In the midst of the most profound police staffing crisis in Austin history, it is now clear that the origins of this effort began in 2017, at the time the last police contract was negotiated.
At that time, city leaders negotiated a binding labor contract, which required police union concessions, then after it was passed and took effect, they undercut APD by defunding the police by one-third (a $150 million budget cut), cutting 150 office positions (which have not been restored), canceling two scheduled cadet classes and delaying the graduation of a third. This created the staffing hole in the center of APD which is now growing.
How do we know this strategy began as far back as 2017?
Because they told everyone about it.
In a 2019 New York Times op ed, authored by radical activists Chas Moore and Sukyi McMahon of the Austin Justice Coalition, they specifically cited going after police labor contracts as a way to defund police departments.
This is the same Austin Justice Coalition which STATES ON ITS WEBSITE that it SUPPORTS POLICE ABOLITION.
The same group that cohosted an event a few days ago with the stated goal of abolishing APD ("No peace until no police").
This brings us to the current battle.
Austin's collectively bargained police labor contract expires at the end of this month. Negotiating began last year and all sessions were held publicly. Both sides worked for 11 months, finally yielding a four year agreement between the City Manager and the police union that included:
> A 14% pay raise over four years
> Protection of current benefits (accrued sick leave payouts, stipends, etc.)
> The most sweeping oversight provisions (20 pages of them) of any city in Texas
But Mayor Kirk Watson and the City Council refuse to allow a vote on the four year contract.
Instead they attempted to force the police union to agree to a one year contract, something their membership would never accept and something which actually harms recruiting as the cadet recruitment and training process lasts longer than a year.
Law enforcement advocates, the police chief, and Save Austin Now and our many supporters all testified that refusing to pay the four year contract will result in a wave of retirements at a time when APD is already dealing with a disastrous staffing shortage.
Before these developments, APD was roughly 350 officers short from before the defund vote in 2020. This includes 230 vacancies. Because of this, response rates are up, proactive policing is shut down, specialized units have been disbanded, and now most 911 calls are routed through 311, creating massive call backlogs.
We tried to warn the Mayor and the Council that more officers will leave, since they cannot know how long there will be no contract and their guaranteed benefits and pay return to the whims of the council outside of contract.
We told the council that 250 officers were eligible to retire before March 31 and that a large number would leave.
Council Member Ryan Alter and Mayor Kirk Watson attempted to fix the mess they created by offering a meager 4% pay raise through a council-passed ordinance.
You'll recall the previous Mayor and Council passed a 40% pay raise for themselves last fall.
While the 4% pay raise and benefits protection may have been well-intentioned, it has three major problems:
1) It is temporary - council passed it, and they can remove it at any time with just six votes. The final version expires in one year.
2) The ordinance includes the same provisions as Equity Action's Prop A (which is on the ballot this May and which city legal has already told council violates state law)
3) The ordinance, especially the oversight provisions, are likely illegal
If the Council and the Mayor believed this rushed ordinance would forestall a wave of APD departures, they were tragically mistaken.
According to this KXAN story, we are approaching ~75 retirements and resignations with more to come.
To get an understanding of what your average officer is dealing with, read the image attached.
At this rate, we will be at 1994 staffing levels in the 11th largest city in the country with major events like SXSW starting this week.
Meanwhile, law enforcement and city leaders from across the country are trying to recruit our officers, who our city paid to train, which will only make our staffing crisis worse. Everyone sees the consequences of what the council is doing except themselves. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is also watching closely.
APD is doing the best they can, turning to Artificial Intelligence in an attempt to stop the crisis from worsening.
Absent a change in direction at City Hall (which appears unlikely), we will need the state to step in or Austin voters to overrule City Hall's misguided decisions.
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We are not done.
We have several strategies we are working on now and we will share more soon.
The police staffing crisis will get worse. Public safety in Austin will get worse. Something has to change.
WE WILL KEEP FIGHTING.
We have generated HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of emails to the Mayor and City Council. We need more.
PLEASE EMAIL THE ENTIRE COUNCIL: Demand that they pass the four year police labor contract and stop making the APD staffing crisis worse.
** You can email the entire city council and mayor here.
Thanks,
Matt
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WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
There is no other group, apart from the police union, fighting for law enforcement like we do. We must keep fighting.
We continue working to educate as many Austinites as possible.
This requires email marketing, digital ads, robocalls and text messages, and other advocacy efforts.
DONATE NOW: You can financially support us here.
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING SAVE AUSTIN NOW!!
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HELP US HOLD CITY HALL ACCOUNTABLE HERE
SUPPORT OUR WORK
You can support our efforts to hold city leaders accountable for their decisions here. If you wish to send a check to ("Save Austin Now PAC" and mail to 807 Brazos Street Suite 701, Austin, TX 78701).
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As we have said before, we have only begun to fight!
Thank you!
-Matt Mackowiak & Cleo Petricek
Co-founders, Save Austin Now PAC
> Questions? Email Matt.
> Learn more: http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com
Will you please support our efforts now?
You may donate to our legal effort here to force full enforcement of Prop B here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/save-austin-now-pac-legal-fund-c4cfa533f8ab98c9da232.