Austin interim city manager pushes for improvements within Austin Police Department
AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Interim City Manager is pushing for improvements within the Austin Police Department before city council finds a new city manager.
"Public safety is an enormously important function for our community," Austin Interim City Manager Jesus Garza said.
With more than 300 Austin police officer vacancies, Garza said, "We’re struggling right now."
Garza said the community should feel safe and not have to worry about being attacked by a man with a machete like 19-year-old Seth Gott had last month in Auditorium Shores.
"This is a machete that he's attacking me with. This is real," Gott said.
"That sends alarm bells out to the community," Garza said.
Garza said increased police staffing and a revamp of training is needed.
"It is the things that are important to the community in terms of the reforms that they have articulated, but it's also support of the police officers. Those are not mutually exclusive sets. They can be one and the same. I think the people that want to make that binary, that it's either or, I just think aren't seeing it quite right," Garza said.
To help, Garza planned on bringing in former police chief Art Acevedo. Council members pushed back and Acevedo withdrew.
"To me, that confluence is not something I could live with," Council woman Alison Alter said.
On February 1, council approved an ordinance guaranteeing salaries and benefits for offices for a year or until a police contract is finalized.
"We're anxious to get that done, because I think that gives another signal to our officers about stability in terms of, so they know their financial future and what it is," Garza said.
In Garza’s January 19 memo to council, he said he wants to utilize recruiting agencies, restore Austin police special units, and potentially change the deployment schedules to ensure enough officers are available during peak response times.
"These all are these incremental things that work toward a positive outcome," Garza said.
These responsibilities could soon be in the hands of the next city manager, who could be announced as early as next month.