CM Pool’s APD Budget amendments

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Leslie Pool
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Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:22 pm

CM Pool’s APD Budget amendments

Post by Leslie Pool »

We continue to hear from so many in our community – from organized advocates to residents engaging with us for the first time – all demanding a transformational change in policing in Austin. I stand firmly with our communities demanding that change.

I believe these transformations are achieved with both funding and structural changes to the department in the immediate term, and in a sustained way as part of a community-driven vision of policing.

FUNDING REDUCTION POSSIBILITIES.
I am supportive of the initial funding reduction recommendations from criminal justice reform organization Just Liberty. Here are the estimates that they are presenting:
1. Eliminate unfilled positions: $23 million
2. Eliminate the 118 cadets that we cannot (and should not) train this year: $4 million
3. Close the academy for a year: $2 million
4. Cut overtime budget: $10 million
5. Cut mounted unit: $1 million
6. Overfunded items: $1.5 million (items anticipated to require more funding at the beginning of the fiscal year, with little actually spent)
Total: $41.5 million

My staff and I are also looking at ADDITIONAL CUTS:
1. Explosive Ordnance Team: ~ $1.8 million
2. Lake Patrol: ~ $1.4 million. Eliminate uses other than emergency and search and rescue operations and consider shifting any necessary patrol operations to other departments.
3. Review the Fusion Center under the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC) and the agreements and programs that fund “Threat Liaison Officers,” an outgrowth of the 9/11 response, which leads to racial profiling, bias confirmation, and promotes neighbor turning against neighbor.

STRUCTURAL CHANGE POSSIBILITIES.
In conversations with Just Liberty and other criminal and social justice reform advocates, several structural changes were identified as potential starting points.

Move the following areas to civilian-led public safety operations:
• Forensics Lab: $11.5 million
• Internal Affairs: $4.2 million
• Police Communications: $17.6 million, which includes the 911 Call Center, (Emergency 9-1-1 & Dispatch Center), Police Communications, and CAPCO. This could be a civilian-run operation. An Integrated Call Center could ensure a non-duplication of services to emergency calls.
• Victims Services: $3.2 million. Maintain presence within APD for collaboration but shift reporting responsibilities to a civilian operation.
Other structural changes that my team and I are reviewing include:
• Recruiting and Training outsourcing: ~ $3.6 million and ~ $13.1 million. How police officers are recruited and trained needs to be reviewed and new methods and curricula developed with the community. We should also review the benefits of outsourcing these programs and see if that would give us more accountability and transparency.
• Reform traffic enforcement and shift operations to non-sworn positions where possible.
• Change staffing for special events to non-sworn positions, or community-led solutions.
• Parks Police: ~ $5.8 million. Restore this operation to the Parks & Recreation Department.

Enacting just the first four items on this structural change list results in $36.6 million more in APD budget reductions and gets us started toward the essential cultural change that we need.

I am also committed, with CM Kitchen, to mental health diversion programs to ensure a public health response, not just a law enforcement response, to mental health crises. This applies to our response related to homelessness and substance abuse as well.

I remain excited about the opportunity we have in this moment, with guidance from our communities both now and in the near future, to transform policing in Austin to a more community-driven, equitable approach.

Looking forward to our discussions on this.

Leslie
Leslie Pool
Mayor Pro Tem
Council Member, District 7