Austin Police Association President addresses new DA’s policies
AUSTIN, Texas - Monday, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office implemented new District Attorney Jose Garza’s policies.
"This county and the voters elected DA Garza and we need to try to support him as much as we can because that is the elected official that we’ve been given to work with. But, there comes a point where if we feel like he’s making decisions that endanger the community, we’re gonna be vocal about it," said Ken Casaday, president of the Austin Police Association, the department's union.
A handful of Garza’s new policies directly impact officers like Casaday.
Policies such as new bail-reform guidance. Under the guidelines, those who miss court, but have not attempted to evade police should no longer be considered a flight risk. Other bail-reform measures advise judges to release low-level felony offenders without condition unless they are a future safety risk or a flight risk.
High-level felony offenders should be released with minimal conditions --- only those necessary to mitigate flight and safety risks. Garza says "anyone who poses a risk of harm to our community or a risk of a flight that cannot be addressed by conditions other than pre-trial incarceration should remain in custody."
Casaday, who says he understands bail-reform for low-level offenders, questions the other guidelines. "This comes out of people’s mouths that’s never had to deal with violent individuals before. When it’s time to bring that person back to court and they don’t show up and [the police] have to go and arrest them again, it’s putting our officers in danger and it’s an ill-advised process that’s being set up by [Garza]."
During an interview with FOX 7 Austin in January, Garza explained what parameters his office will use to determine if someone is a "future risk of harm."
"We will certainly be looking at the offense that is charged and the conduct surrounding it, we’ll be looking at past criminal history we’ll be looking at evidence of threats of violence against people, we’ll be looking at instances of escalating violence against our community, but every case will be unique, as the law requires, and we’ll be looking at every circumstance carefully."
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Garza’s office has also promised not to prosecute low-level drug dealers."What we know from the data is that often-times people who are dealing low-levels of drugs are themselves users, and themselves struggling with substance abuse disorder." he said.
Casaday says the policy is not much of a change. "Low-level drug deals have never been prosecuted in this county, you know, it’s no different than what we’ve had for the past 20 years." Still, he said the policy is not without problems. "It (low-level drug deals) creates a process where people can be robbed or even murdered."
Garza’s office will also create a formal "do not call to testify" list. It bars officers with conduct his office deems questionable from testifying in court. Casaday says officers will see little change, as it is just setting in stone a years-old practice. "It’s just formalizing what Margaret Moore’s already done," he explained.