Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis being sued by Austin Police Association

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Association is suing the Austin police chief. They claim she’s violating police officers’ rights. 

The lawsuit has to do with attorney-client privilege during internal affairs investigations.

Austin Police Association sues police chief Lisa Davis

What they're saying:

"There absolutely has to be confidentiality between an attorney and the police officer that they are representing," The National Police Association spokesperson Sgt. Betsy Smith said.

The Austin Police Association claims Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis sent a new directive that infringes on that.

"The importance of attorney-client privilege, especially in an internal affairs investigation, quite frankly, is constitutional," Sgt. Smith said.

The lawsuit said APA was recently informed that when a police officer is accused of misconduct and goes through an administrative interview, the statements made during that interview and documents and material referenced would be collected by internal affairs. APA claims those might contain attorney-client privileged information and attorney work products.

"What this does is chip away at the due process rights of police officers," Sgt. Smith said.

APA said that information could be used as an unethical advantage for the attorneys representing the department and against police officers.

"Nobody likes to be at odds with their leadership and, you know, there's a misnomer that police unions exist to keep bad cops on police departments. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can't tip the scales in favor of the agency or the city when you're investigating police officers," Sgt. Smith said.

Dig deeper:

If this information were to be collected, it could also become public. A Travis County judge ruled last year the police personnel file, which includes internal affairs investigations, couldn’t be sealed anymore.

"I don't think this helps in any way for the department to be transparent," Sgt. Smith said.

APA advocates for 1,400 Austin police officers. The union is asking for a temporary restraining order, so Chief Davis doesn’t disclose attorney-client privileged information until the lawsuit is heard in court.

APD's response

What they're saying:

The Austin Police Department said in a statement:

"The City has not yet been served with the lawsuit from the Austin Police Association. If we receive a lawsuit, the City will review and respond appropriately."