Austin PD non-emergency service requests being closed due to missed callbacks: data

AUSTIN, Texas - Data shows thousands of Austin Police Department non-emergency service requests are still being closed due to missed callbacks. 

In January 2023, FOX 7 heard from multiple Austinites who were frustrated with the 311 system.

The number can be used to field requests regarding everything from potholes to porch pirates. If it's a police matter, 311 ambassadors hand it over to an Austin Police Department unit. 

An APD representative then returns the call up to two times. If there is no answer on the second try, APD will close the service request and the caller has to start the process over.

In March, APD announced the launch of a new online system to field reports of non-emergency crime and help with the backlog.

"This particular technology is to bridge or focus on the issue that was our ingesting or inability to ingest those reports into the record management system," said Lt. Sheldon Askew with APD.

As of December, FOX 7 learned that roughly 30,000 reports have been filed by citizens through that online system. The categories with the highest number of reports were burglary of vehicle, theft, and hit-and-run violations. 

FOX 7 also revisited the 311 call data over the past year, specifically looking at APD non-emergency service requests that were closed due to missed callbacks. 

Between October 2022 and October 2023, 25% of APD non-emergency service requests, 29,628 out of 119,289, were closed due to missed callbacks from an APD representative. 

For those specifically requesting a police report (57,502), about 40% (22,752) of service requests were closed before a police report was made due to missed callbacks.

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As reported previously, in the same time period, the prior year (Oct. 2021-Oct. 2022), 23% of APD non-emergency service requests (24,452 out of 106,485) were closed due to missed callbacks from an APD representative. For those specifically requesting a police report (64,086), about 34% (21,527) of service requests were closed before a police report was made due to missed callbacks 

This comes as APD has encouraged citizens to utilize 311 instead of 911 for certain non-violent crimes because of a staffing shortage. 

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock recently addressed the staffing shortage in a recent interview with FOX 7. 

"We once had all of these units that were aimed at proactive policing. Well, now we're looking at units that are reactive just to be able to respond to 911 calls, like we're looking at standing up units that their sole purpose is going to be responding to high-priority calls, and they're going to be made up of detectives and non-patrol officers," said Bullock. "Our department has been gutted and rearranged to its max."

According to APD, the individuals responsible for making the non-emergency service request callbacks consist of both civilian staff members and officers. Some of them are from the 911 Communications Division, while others are from different APD units.

"Right now the biggest priority is how we allocate what few resources we have to where it's the most effective, basically," said Bullock. 

Because callbacks are made from different phones, an APD spokesperson said there is still no method to display the caller ID as originating from the department.

"If you need to speak to someone, and you miss it, call back, check on it. Don't let it go unanswered because, unfortunately, because of the high volume that we have and everything that we do, things may get messed up and things may get closed out," said Bullock. And if you're worried about it, by all means, call us back. We want to make sure that we provide the best possible service that we can, and that's what the city deserves."

According to an APD spokesperson, residents are encouraged to file a report through the online system instead of calling 311 for faster processing times.