Austin police critic takes part in 'shoot, don't shoot' training exercise

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - One of the most vocal critics of law enforcement in Austin took part in a use-of-force training exercise in Williamson County. 

Chas Moore with the Austin Justice Coalition experienced several "shoot or don't shoot" situations.

"I'm not going to give any of you guys flack for making a life-or-death decision in this scenario. This makes sense to me," said Moore.

The outspoken police critic was invited to the training center by the Texas Municipal Police Association.

"Everybody that I know that has gone through this kind of scenario comes out with a different perspective, comes out with a better understanding of what our officers are up against," said TMPA Executive Director Kevin Lawrence.

Terrance Moore, no relation to Chas Moore, was also invited to take part in the exercise. He was shot during a traffic stop simulation.

"It's an eye-opening experience," said Terrance Moore.

He left the center with a new perspective regarding calls to defund police.

"I say I would probably divert some of those fundings instead of defunding it. Probably go to more training if anything. So that would definitely help," said Terrance Moore.

The scenarios on Wednesday were intense, including one simulating a mental health call. None simulated "officer-involved shootings" like the deadly APD confrontation with Mike Ramos in 2020.

Chas Moore noted how he deescalated a situation without firing a shot, which is why he isn’t backing off his calls for reform.

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"The instances where the person doesn't have a gun, like there's clearly no threat, no danger. I think those are the things that we're talking about. We need to see immediate changes," said Chas Moore.

Allowing social workers to respond to mental health calls is something Moore supports. It’s a controversial idea that many in law enforcement say is dangerous. Political rhetoric has also hampered the debate.

"I think we should change it by, you know, people like me coming here, and having these conversations and hopefully us joining forces with, it's temporary not to go up to the Capitol to, you know, talk about things we need to see legislatively and even locally to get policy change to make sure we don't have those scenarios," said Moore.

An invitation to attend the exercise was also sent to Travis County DA Jose Garza. The progressive democrat has alienated the law enforcement community after indicting nearly two dozen APD officers on excessive force charges. 

District Attorney Garza declined to take part in this demonstration, but the organizers say they intend to meet with him in the very near future.

"We've invited him a number of times to participate, to come to events with us. We'd love to have those conversations. Obviously, we disagree with his policies, and we'd love to have some conversations with him," said Lawrence.

State law mandates every local law enforcement officer to take a crisis intervention training class. But, there is no mandate for regular reality-based training like what took place on Wednesday. 

Currently, that’s only being offering by support groups like TMPA, CLEAT and the ALERRT Center at Texas State.

The focus in 2024 for TMPA will be on training, and convincing local and state leaders to provide more funding to their law enforcement agencies to pay for more training classes.