[CALL TO ORDER ]
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IN THE MORNING, AND I'LL CALL TO ORDER THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE OF THE AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL.
WE ARE MEETING AT 3 0 1 WEST SECOND STREET IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.
UM, AND WE HAVE ALL OF THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE PRESENT AND SOME MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL.
I WANNA WELCOME THOSE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL THAT ARE NOT PART OF THE COMMITTEE.
AND THANK YOU FOR, UH, BEING HERE WITH US.
MEMBERS OF THE ORDER THAT WILL GO IN THIS MORNING WILL BE TO TAKE UP THE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.
THEN WE WILL HAVE THE DISCUSSION RELATED TO THE, UH, COLLABORATION BETWEEN AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
AND THEN WE WILL GO TO PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS AND ANY COMMUNICATIONS ON THE ITEMS, UH, THAT WE HAVE POSTED.
UH, WITH THAT BEING SAID, Y'ALL HAVE HAD THE MINUTES OF
[1. Approve the minutes for the Public Safety Committee meeting held April 24, 2023. ]
THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING THAT WAS HELD ON APRIL 24TH, 2023.IS THERE ANYBODY THAT WANTS TO OFFER A CHANGE OR AMENDMENT OR SPEAK WITH REGARD TO THOSE AMENDMENTS? UH, WITHOUT OBJECTION, THE AMENDMENTS OF THE MEETING HELD APRIL 24TH, 2023 IS, UH, THAT THEY'RE APPROVED.
[2. Briefing and discussion on the Austin Police Department collaboration with the Texas Depa1t ment of Public Safety.]
NUMBER TWO, THE BRIEFING AND DISCUSSION ON THE AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT, COLLABORATION WITH THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY.I WILL RECOGNIZE CHIEF CHACON AND, UH, ALLOW HIM TO TELL US, UH, WHO ELSE HE WANTS US TO HEAR FROM.
UH, COMING UP WITH ME THIS MORNING IS, UH, DR.
JONATHAN KREGAN, AS WELL AS, UM, DEPUTY DIRECTOR VINCENT LUCIANO WITH THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, UH, TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE A, UH, SHORT PRESENTATION TO YOU REGARDING, UH, JUST A LITTLE BIT OF AN UPDATE AND MAYBE SOME INFORMATION THAT, UH, THE COMMITTEE HAS NOT HAD PREVIOUSLY RELATED TO THE A P D DPS PARTNERSHIP.
UH, AND THEN OBVIOUSLY TO TAKE ANY QUESTIONS THAT Y'ALL, THAT Y'ALL MAY HAVE.
UM, VERY QUICKLY, JUST AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT, UH, TODAY'S PRESENTATION WILL BE.
UH, I WILL PROVIDE A VERY QUICK REVIEW OF THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PARTNERSHIP, AND THEN I'LL TURN IT OVER TO DR.
KREGAN, WHO WILL BE, UH, TALKING ABOUT THE DEPLOYMENT STRATEGY WITH REGARD TO CRASHES, AS WELL AS EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICES, UH, THAT ARE RELATED TO GUN CRIME, AND THEN WHAT WE EXPECT FUTURE REPORTING TO SHOW.
AND THEN, AS I SAID, WE'LL BE, UH, TAKING SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
UH, I WILL START BY SAYING THAT WE'RE KEEPING IT PRETTY HIGH LEVEL AS, UM, REALLY WE'RE LOOKING AT ABOUT FOUR MAYBE, UH, GETTING CLOSE TO FIVE WEEKS OF DATA.
UH, WE HAVE CHALLENGES GETTING SOME OF THAT DATA.
WE'VE MADE REQUESTS, UM, TO ALL THE, ALL OF THE PARTNERS THAT ARE INVOLVED, UH, WHETHER THAT IS DPS, OUR COUNTY AND DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.
UH, JUST SO THE PIECE, UM, NUMBER FIVE, WHICH IS JUDGE CHU, UH, TRYING TO GET INFORMATION RELATED THAT I KNOW IS IMPORTANT TO THIS COMMITTEE AND IS IMPORTANT TO OUR COMMUNITY ABOUT, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT IS THE DATA, WHAT KIND OF, UH, STOPS ARE BEING MADE, WHAT, UH, ARRESTS ARE BEING MADE, WHAT THE DEMOGRAPHICS ARE AND SO FORTH.
UH, AND SO TODAY, UM, IS, IS BUILDING ON THAT.
UH, BUT WE STILL ARE CHALLENGED BY TRYING TO GET SOME OF THIS DATA.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE TRYING VERY HARD TO BE RESPONSIVE, UH, AND TO PRO PROVIDE AS MANY ANSWERS AS WE CAN, AND, UH, APPRECIATE, UH, THE COMMITTEE'S PATIENCE AS WE GO THROUGH THAT.
AGAIN, THE, UH, JUST A, A RESTATEMENT OF WHAT OUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ARE WITH THE PARTNERSHIP, UH, REALLY CENTERED AROUND TWO MAIN THINGS.
UH, THE FIRST BEING REDUCING SERIOUS TRAFFIC INJURIES AND FATALITIES.
UH, WE'RE GONNA SPEND A GOOD PART OF TODAY'S PRESENTATION TALKING ABOUT THAT, BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE, UH, SOME OF THE DATA HAS BEEN LACKING IN THE PAST, AS WELL AS TRYING TO REDUCE THE INCIDENTS OF VIOLENT CRIME.
AND, AND THE CRIME THAT IS, UH, INVOLVING FIREARMS DRIVING THAT INFORMATION REALLY, OR DRIVING THE OPERATION, UH, IS, UM, WHERE THOSE CALLS FOR SERVICES ARE COMING IN.
AND, UH, THAT IS WHAT YOU WILL SEE TODAY.
UM, A THIRD THING THAT WE REALLY WANTED TO DO, WHICH IS A BIT MORE ANCILLARY, IS REDUCING, UH, RESPONSE TIMES TO 9 1 1 CALLS FOR ASSISTANCE.
BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT WHEN WE DO THAT, WE HAVE BETTER OUTCOMES.
THERE'S A BETTER CHANCE THAT, UH, PEOPLE ARE NOT SERIOUSLY INJURED.
WE MAKE AN ARREST, WE RECOVER A FIREARM WHEN WE GET THERE FASTER.
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AND TURN IT OVER AT THIS POINT TO, UH, DR.AND, UM, I THANK THE COMMITTEE FOR HAVING US HERE TODAY.
UH, WE'RE GONNA START JUST BY LOOKING AT THE INITIAL INFORMATION THAT WE SHARED WITH DPS THAT DROVE THE DEPLOYMENT STRATEGY.
UM, AS CHIEF CHICO SAID, THERE WERE TWO PRIMARY, UH, SETS OF INFORMATION THAT WERE USED.
ONE'S OUR CRASH DATA, UH, THAT HELPS US UNDERSTAND WHERE CRASHES AND PARTICULARLY CRASHES RESULTING IN INJURIES AND FATALITIES OCCUR, UH, AS WELL AS THE, UH, CALL FOR SERVICE DATA FOR EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE INVOLVING FIREARMS. SO THIS IS A MAP OF THE INJURY CRASHES IN AUSTIN, UH, A YEAR PRECEDING THE, UH, D P S DEPLOYMENT.
AND WHAT YOU SEE IN THE DARK BLUE MEANS, YOU KNOW, NOT REALLY ANYTHING HAPPENING, ANYTHING, IT'S NOT DARK BLUE IS RUNNING UP A COLOR RAMP FROM BLUE TO YELLOW TO ORANGE TO RED, WITH RED BEING THE AREAS OF HIGHEST DENSITY, RIGHT? SO WE CAN SEE IN THIS MAP WHERE INJURY CRASHES ARE PREDOMINANTLY HAPPENING IN AUSTIN.
AND IF WE LOOK AT IT BY COUNCIL DISTRICT, WE SEE IT'S IN D FOUR.
WE SEE IT'S IN D ONE, WE SEE IT'S IN D THREE, WE SEE IT'S IN D TWO.
NOW, A LOT OF THAT INFORMATION IS ACTUALLY, UH, COMING FROM THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING ON I 35, SINCE I 35, IS, UH, THE MAJOR CRASH INJURY CORRIDOR IN THE CITY.
UM, AUSTIN TRAFFIC PLACES IT ABOVE ALL OTHER AREAS IN THE CITY, UM, AS FAR AS THE ACTUAL COSTS OF COLLISIONS THAT OCCUR, IF WE MOVE OUTSIDE OF LOOKING AT I 35, WE SEE SOME OTHER AREAS, UH, WHERE WE HAVE, UH, A NUMBER, UH, SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF INJURY CRASHES.
THOSE ARE GONNA HAPPEN OVER HERE IN D SEVEN, UH, OVER HERE IN D SIX, D THREE, THIS IS, AND, UH, D FIVE.
SO IF WE LOOK AT FATAL CRASHES, NOW JUST LOOKING AT THE MOST, UH, IMPACTFUL, UH, CRASHES THAT ARE HAPPENING, IT BECOMES A LITTLE MORE CLUSTERED.
UH, BUT AGAIN, WE SEE THIS, UH, A LOT OF THAT ACTIVITY HAPPENING IN D FOUR.
SO WHETHER IT'S INJURIES OR FATAL COLLISIONS, UH, WE'RE BEGINNING TO SEE WHICH DISTRICTS ARE CARRYING A DISPROPORTIONATE BURDEN, UH, FOR THOSE OUTCOMES.
THE ONES THAT WE WANT TO, UH, PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO LESSER, ONCE WE GET OFF TAKING 35 OUT OF IT, WE BEGIN TO SEE THIS AREA OUT IN D TWO WHERE WE HAVE ISSUES.
AND WE'RE GONNA LOOK AGAIN AT EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE INVOLVING FIREARMS. SO THESE ARE CALLS WHERE SOMEONE CALLS 9 1 1 AND SAYS HE OR SHE HAS A GUN.
UM, SO THESE, WE TREAT AS THE, THE HIGHEST PRIORITY IN THE DEPARTMENT.
UH, AND WE SEE THE CLUSTERING HAPPENING IN D FOUR, UH, AND IN D THREE, RIGHT? AND SO THOSE ARE THE INITIAL DATA THAT SORT OF DROVE THE DEPLOYMENT EFFORT, RIGHT? LITTLE BIT LESSER EXTENT.
WE SEE SOME ACTIVITY AREAS IN D ONE THAT ARE IMPORTANT AND DOWN IN D TWO, RIGHT? AND SO GENERALLY, IN THE INFORMATION THAT WE'VE SHOWN YOU HERE, THE, THE FIRST THINGS THAT I SHOWED IN RED WERE THE PRIMARY DRIVERS OF DEPLOYMENT.
AND AS WE LOOK AT THE THINGS IN GREEN, AS WE STARTED TRYING TO DISTRIBUTE RESOURCES FURTHER OUT, THESE ARE THE AREAS THAT WE BEGAN TO ASK DPS TO TAKE A LOOK AT.
SO WE HAVEN'T LOOKED AT ANY CRASH DATA YET.
I HAD MADE EVERYONE AWARE THAT OUR CRASH DATA COMES TO US ON A LAG.
WE HAVE BEEN TRYING, UH, VERY DILIGENTLY TO, UH, TRY TO MOVE THAT ALONG AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
UM, AND WE DO HAVE SOME CRASH DATA.
AND SO FOR VISUALIZATION PURPOSES ONLY, I'VE PUT UP SOME CRASH DATA HERE, PLOTTED, UH, FOR A SEVERAL YEAR PERIOD PRECEDING THE DPS INTERVENTION.
AND THEN THE RED LINE SHOWS US, UH, THE DATE THAT DPS BEGAN, UH, IN LATE APRIL, WORKING IN THE CITY.
AND THEN WE SEE THE WEEKS OF DATA IN BLACK THEREAFTER.
AND IF YOU CAN SEE IN THIS, WHAT YOU SEE IS ON THE HOLE IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN, UH, AND THESE ARE INJURY CRASHES.
WE SEE THIS REDUCTION THAT'S HAPPENING.
YOU NOTICE THE POINTS ON THE BLACK ARE GENERALLY LOWER THAN WHAT WE SEE IN ORANGE ON THE LEFT.
NOW, WORKING WITH COUNCIL MEMBERS TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND THEIR INDIVIDUAL DISTRICTS, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL DISTRICTS, RIGHT? SO, D ONE, UH, WHAT WE SEE HERE IS THAT WE SEE, UH, IT'S SOMEWHAT INCONCLUSIVE.
A LOT OF THE CRASH ACTIVITY IN D ONE IS REALLY GONNA BE COMING ON 35 AND 35 FEETER ROAD.
AND WE HAD A LOT OF FOCUS THERE, BUT THIS IS WHAT WE SEE.
UH, D TWO, WE ACTUALLY SEE SOMETHING THAT'S AROUND AVERAGE AS WELL.
UH, ROLLING OUT TO D THREE, WHICH IS AN AREA WHERE WE INCLUDED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOTH TRAFFIC AND VIOLENT CRIME ENFORCEMENT.
HERE'S ACTUALLY THE FIRST PLACE WHERE WE START TO SEE REASONABLE REDUCTIONS.
YOU NOTICE THAT THE BLACK POINTS TEND TO BE UNDER THE AVERAGE FOR THE, THE ORANGE POINTS ON THE OTHER SIDE.
THAT SHOWS US A REDUCTION, UM, HELPS US VISUALIZE IT.
D FOUR, WHICH IS AN AREA WHERE WE FOCUSED BOTH, UH, VIOLENT CRIME RESOURCES AS WELL AS TRAFFIC.
WE SEE SOMETHING VERY SIMILAR.
WE SEE THIS WHAT APPEARS TO BE REDUCTION,
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UH, AFTER DPS.IS THERE, UH, D FIVE, IT'S A LITTLE BIT HARDER TO SEE HERE.
THAT AVERAGE IS A LITTLE BIT LOWER.
IMPORTANTLY, REMEMBER THAT D FIVE WAS A REDEPLOYMENT AREA.
SO TECHNICALLY IT'S ONLY THE TWO DATA POINTS FURTHEST TO THE RIGHT THAT WOULD'VE OCCURRED AFTER WE ASKED DPS TO START MOVING IN THE D FIVE.
THOSE ARE THE TWO LOWEST THAT WE SEE AFTER THE DPSS DEPLOYMENT.
SO THERE WAS SOME ACTIVITY IN ALL AREAS OF THE CITY IN THE EARLIER DATA POINTS.
BUT THE LAST TWO, SHOW US WHEN WE SPECIFICALLY BEGAN PROVIDING LOCATIONS IN D FIVE.
SO, RIGHT, D SIX CRASHES, D SEVEN CRASHES, D SEVEN WAS AN AREA OF REDEPLOYMENT, RIGHT? WE HAD SOME RESOURCES GOING THROUGH D SEVEN.
WE FOCUSED A LITTLE BIT IN THE LAST TWO.
WE DO SEE THAT'S A LITTLE BIT LOWER THAN AVERAGE, RIGHT? D EIGHT CRASHES, D NINE CRASHES, AND LAST D 10 CRASHES.
NOW, D 10 HAS RE RECEIVED, UH, THEY RECEIVED, UH, TRAFFIC FOCUS, UM, IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS.
AND SO THIS IS SOMETHING WE WANT TO FOLLOW UP ON.
NOW, THIS TAKES US TO ONE WEEK PRIOR TO DPS LEAVING, RIGHT? THE LAG AND THE TRAFFIC DATA TAKE US THERE.
SO WE WILL SOON HAVE THE NEXT WEEK, WHICH WILL HELP US UNDERSTAND ALL OF THAT.
SO, WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF ALL OF THIS? AND I'VE, UH, ANSWERED A COUPLE QUESTIONS LAST WEEK ABOUT WHY WE SAY THESE THINGS.
THIS IS WHAT WE SAW RELATED TO CALLS FOR SERVICE RESPONSE TIMES AND REDUCED VIOLENT CRIME IN THE AREAS THAT DPS WAS ASKED TO DEPLOY.
WE SAW REDUCTIONS IN CALLS FOR SERVICE.
WE SAW REDUCED RESPONSE TIMES.
SO A P D OFFICERS WERE ARRIVING AT EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE MORE QUICKLY.
UM, AND WE SAW REDUCTIONS IN VIOLENT CRIME RIGHT NOW, IMPORTANTLY IN AREAS WHERE DPS REDEPLOYED FROM.
THIS MEANS THE AREAS WHERE THEY INITIALLY DEPLOYED.
AND WE SAW THOSE REDUCTIONS, AND THEN WE MOVED THEM IN WEEKS FIVE AND SIX.
WE ASKED THEM TO REFOCUS TO SOME OTHER AREAS BECAUSE CRIME HAD FALLEN WHERE WE HAD INITIALLY DEPLOYED THEM.
SO WE MOVED THEM TO OTHER AREAS ONCE WE MOVED THEM OUT.
WHAT WE SAW IS AN INCREASE IN CALLS FOR SERVICE, INCREASE RESPONSE TIMES, AND INCREASES IN VIOLENT CRIME.
SO WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE CITY AS A WHOLE, RIGHT? MOVING THE RESOURCES TO OTHER AREAS, CREATED REDUCTIONS IN OTHER AREAS, BUT INCREASES IN THE AREAS WHERE THEY HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN DEPLOYED.
RIGHT? AND SO THIS IS AT AN AGGREGATE WHAT HAS SORT OF HAPPENED WITH THE, WITH THE, UH, OPERATION AS A WHOLE.
UM, WE SEE REDUCTIONS IN INJURY COLLISIONS.
WE SEE REDUCTIONS IN CALLS FOR SERVICE RESPONSE TIMES AND VIOLENT CRIME IN THE AREAS WHERE WE DID PLACE DPS.
UM, AND THE LAST QUESTION I'LL ANSWER, SOMEONE SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR ME TO INCLUDE THIS, IS THAT WE'VE TALKED A GREAT DEAL ABOUT WHETHER THESE REDUCTIONS ARE A RESULT OF THE DPS INTERVENTION.
UM, AND WE CAN SAY CONCLUSIVELY THAT IT IS, WE'VE BEEN ASKED A GREAT DEAL OF QUESTIONS.
WE SAID THAT AT WEEK FOUR, UM, ABOUT HOW WE WOULD DO THAT WITH FOUR WEEKS OF DATA.
UM, SO PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW WE DO THAT A LITTLE BIT MORE.
THERE ARE SEVEN DAYS PER WEEK, WHICH IS 28 DAYS IN THE FOUR WEEKS.
DPS IS DEPLOYED 12 HOURS PER DAY.
THERE'S TWO 12 HOUR PERIODS PER DAY.
AND WE ACTUALLY ANALYZE THE DATA AT A CITY BLOCK LEVEL.
THERE'S ABOUT 40,000 CITY BLOCKS IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
SO THAT'S ABOUT 2 MILLION OBSERVATIONS SINCE THE POINT IN TIME IN WHICH DPS CAME INTO THE CITY.
AND SO WE'RE ANALYZING THE DATA THAT WAY.
THAT'S JUST TO ILLUSTRATE, UH, THE VISUALIZATIONS THAT WE HAVE HERE TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THAT.
UM, BUT WE ARE, UH, CONFIDENT IN SAYING, SCIENTIFICALLY CONFIDENT IN SAYING THAT THE DPS REDUCTION DID RESULT IN THESE THINGS.
UM, THIS WEEK IS THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK SINCE DPS HAS ACTUALLY REDEPLOYED TO, UH, TO OTHER BUSINESS IN THE STATE.
AND SO WE'LL BE ANALYZING WHAT HAPPENS THIS WEEK AND NEXT WEEK, UM, MOVING FORWARD.
AND SO WE'LL BE ABLE TO REPORT ON THAT LATER TO GIVE US A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DPS, UH, MOVES OUT IN ITS ENTIRETY.
RIGHT? WE ARE FOCUSING AT THIS POINT FOR THE DISCUSSION IN THE CITY ON COUNCIL LEVEL REPORTING, RIGHT? AND WE'LL CONTINUE TO REPORT ON VIOLENT CRIME AND VICTIMIZATION, UM, ON A TWO WEEK INTERVAL, RIGHT? SO WE'LL BE PRODUCING EVERY TWO WEEKS THAT WE HAVE INFORMATION AT THE END OF NEXT WEEK WHEN WE HAVE THE FULL TWO WEEKS OF INFORMATION FROM DPS HAVING DEPARTED THE CITY.
WE'LL BEGIN PRODUCTION OF THOSE MATERIALS FOR THE NEXT REPORT.
AND, UH, WE'VE SHARED WITH COUNSEL, UM, SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH WE'RE GOING TO BE SHARING THAT INFORMATION WILL INCLUDE VIOLENT CRIME AND VICTIMIZATION, THE EMERGENCY CALLS FOR ASSISTANCE, INCLUDING THE GUN FOCUS, UH, RESPONSE TIMES, TRAFFIC CRASHES, INJURIES AND FATALITIES.
BEYOND THAT, UH, AS CHIEF CHACON MENTIONED, THERE'S A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF DATA THAT IS IMPORTANT TO THE DISCUSSION, THE ACTIVITY DATA, THE
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WHAT IS HAPPENING DATA.UM, WE CONTINUE TO WORK TO TRY TO MAKE THOSE DATA AVAILABLE FOR ANALYSIS.
UM, AND WE BELIEVE THAT THE PERIOD OF DOWNTIME WILL PROVIDE US A LITTLE BIT MORE OPPORTUNITY TO FOCUS ON THAT.
WE HAVE ASKED FOR DATA FROM A VARIETY OF LOCATIONS, SO WE CAN SPEAK IN MORE GRANULAR DETAIL ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING AS A RESULT OF IT.
UM, AND AS THOSE THINGS BECOME AVAILABLE, WE'LL WORK TO MAKE THOSE, UH, TO INTEGRATE THOSE INTO THIS PART OF THE REPORTING.
AND SO THAT'S, UH, A BASIC SUMMARY, UH, TO DATE, AND I'LL TURN IT BACK OVER THERE.
AND, UM, THAT CONCLUDES THIS FORMAL PART OF THE, UH, PRESENTATION.
UM, DIRECTOR LUCIANO DID NOT BRING A PRESENTATION PER SE, BUT IS HERE, UH, WE CAN'T HAVE A DISCUSSION WITHOUT DPS BEING AT THE TABLE.
AND SO HE IS HERE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS OR GIVE ANY FEEDBACK THAT, UH, THE COMMITTEE MIGHT WANT.
BUT, UH, THANK YOU FOR, UH, GIVING US AN OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT THAT, AND WE'RE GLAD TO TAKE ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE.
UH, I'LL START BY, UH, RECOGNIZING COUNCIL MEMBER CADRE.
UM, DO YOU GUYS MIND GOING BACK TO THE, THE IMPACT SLIDE? UM, AND, AND, AND, AND IF YOU'RE UNABLE TO DO THAT, I GUESS MY, MY MAIN QUESTION, YEAH, YOU'RE ABLE TO DO THAT SECOND TO THE LAST SLIDE? YEAH, I THINK THAT WAS TOWARDS THE BOTTOM.
OH, START THE LAST ONE MORE UP.
SO THIS IS IN AREAS OF DPS DEPLOYMENT, REDUCED C UH, CFS REDUCED RESPONSE TIME, AND REDUCED VIOLENT CRIME.
DO Y'ALL HAVE OF DATA OF LIKE, THIS IS WHAT THE RESPONSE TIME WAS, THEN THIS IS WHAT IT GOT TO, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, ON THE OTHER END WHEN DPS REDEPLOYED, DO YOU HAVE THE, THIS IS WHAT THE TIME WAS AND ONCE THEY LEFT, THIS IS HOW, HOW BAD IT GOT? YEAH, SO WE DO, AND WE'VE REPORTED THAT IN, UH, WE'VE REPORTED IT IN SOME OF THE PREVIOUS MEMOS ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENED ON A TWO WEEK BASIS.
UM, WHAT WE'LL BE REPORTING MOVING FORWARD AT THE END OF THE NEXT TWO WEEKS IS BEGINNING TO LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT AREAS EFFECTIVELY, UH, THE AREAS WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN DEPLOYED AND THEN TAKEN OUT.
UM, WE DO HAVE INITIAL INFORMATION ON THAT.
THE INCREASE IN CALLS FOR SERVICE RESPONSE TIME FOR EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE IS ABOUT TWO MINUTES.
AND SO WE DO, UM, WE, AND AGAIN, THIS IS SPECIFIC, IT'S LOOKING AT AREAS WHERE DPS HAD A FOCUS FOR A NUMBER OF WEEKS, AND THEN WE'RE REDEPLOYED TO OTHER AREAS OF THE CITY.
SO WE'RE ASKING THE QUESTION IN THE SECOND POINT, THE POINT ON THE BOTTOM WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY ACTUALLY MOVED OUT.
NOW WHAT WE HAVE TO WORK ON IN THIS IS THAT WE, UH, WHICH I'VE DISCUSSED, UH, WITH COUNCIL MEMBERS, UH, WE WILL BE WORKING TO AGGREGATE THIS IN A WAY THAT CAN BE, THAT CAN BE PROVIDED.
WE'RE WORKING ON PROVIDING IT PRIMARILY AT A COUNCIL DISTRICT LEVEL.
UM, THAT IS NOT THE IDEAL LEVEL FOR CONDUCTING THIS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS, BUT IT SHOULD GIVE YOU SOME SENSE, UH, OF WHAT'S HAPPENING.
AND WE'RE HAPPY TO PRODUCE ANYTHING ELSE THAT WE'RE REQUESTING.
UM, AND THEN I GUESS THIS IS A QUESTION FOR, UM, EITHER ONE OF YOU, BUT, UM, WHAT, WHAT WAS THE PROTOCOL TO REDUCE SPEEDING AND RECKLESS DRIVING DURING THIS, THIS PARTNERSHIP? OH, ACTUALLY, I'M GONNA GO AHEAD AND LET, UH, DIRECTOR LUCIANO ANSWER THAT BECAUSE HIS, HIS FOLKS WERE THE ONES THAT WERE ACTUALLY CONDUCTING THAT.
SO WHEN THE TROOPERS GO OUT AND PATROL, THEY LOOK FOR EVERY TRAFFIC VIOLATION THEY SEE.
SO IF THEY SAW THAT VIOLATION, THEN THAT'S WHAT THEY HAD STOPPED FOR.
SO YOU CAN ONLY STOP PEOPLE FOR THE, UH, VIOLATIONS THAT YOU OBSERVE.
OH, THEY STOPPED PEOPLE FOR THE VIOLATIONS THEY OBSERVED.
UM, AND THEN MY, MY NEXT QUESTION WAS, UH, DOES THE CHIEF'S MONTHLY REPORT INCLUDE ARRESTS MADE BY DPS? AND THE REASON I ASK THIS IS BECAUSE IN MARCH BEFORE THE PARTNERSHIP CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS DECREASED BY 11% IN COMPARISON TO THE YEAR BEFORE, AND IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR, THEY DECREASED BY 10%.
UM, AND THEN MY, MY LAST TWO QUESTIONS, UM, AND, AND, AND I'VE ASKED A SIMILAR QUESTION BEFORE, I KNOW OTHER MEMBERS HAVE.
UM, SO I'M, I'M GONNA, I'M GONNA ASK YOU, BUT ALSO KIND OF REPHRASE IT FOR AS LONG AS THE PARTNERSHIP EXISTED, DID, DO YOU GUYS CONSIDER IT A SUCCESS? AND THEN MY, MY FOLLOW UP QUESTION TO THAT WOULD BE WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE AT, AT THE, AT THE END OF THE DAY? YEAH.
UM, I DID CONSIDER IT A SUCCESS.
AND WHAT SUCCESS TO ME LOOKS LIKE IS THAT WE ARE, UM, HAVING A DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF CALLS FOR SERVICE.
THOSE P ZERO AND P ONE EMERGENT CALLS THAT
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WERE ON THE RISE AND WERE ACTUALLY, UH, DECLINED DURING, IN THE, IN THE DEPLOYMENT AREAS AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, SUBSEQUENT TO THAT THE, THE VIOLENT CRIME.AND WE SAW REDUCTIONS IN THOSE, UM, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE BEING SERIOUSLY INJURED, WHETHER IN A TRAFFIC CRASH, UH, WHICH, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY IS NOT, UH, NOT CRIMINAL PER SE, BUT IS, IS NO LESS INJUROUS, UM, AS WELL AS PEOPLE USING, UH, GUNS TO COMMIT VIOLENT CRIME.
UH, WE SAW DROPS IN BOTH OF THOSE, IN THOSE AREAS.
AND I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO, UH, TO TALK ABOUT THAT.
DO YOU, WAS THERE SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO ADD ON THAT? YEAH, AND SO IMPORTANTLY, I, I WANT TO BRING ATTENTION TO THIS BECAUSE YOU BROUGHT UP THE INFORMATION IN CHIEF'S MONTHLY REPORT MM-HMM.
SO THE CHALLENGE IN THE CHIEF'S MONTHLY REPORT IS THE WAY IN WHICH THE DATA ARE PROVIDED, THOSE DATA ARE PROVIDED BASED UPON A BASIC IBUS COUNTING STANDARD, RIGHT? SO THESE ARE THE OFFICIAL DATA THAT WE PROVIDE.
UM, SO I NOTICED, FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE MARCH REPORT, UH, YOU'LL NOTICE THERE'S A 7% NET CHANGE IN CRIMES EVENTS PERSONS, WHICH IS MOSTLY EQUIVALENT TO WHAT WE THINK OF AS VIOLENT CRIME.
UM, I WOULD SAY IMPORTANTLY, IF YOU LOOK AT THAT, THOSE WERE REDUCTIONS PRIMARILY IN SEX CRIMES, RIGHT? UM, AND SO BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF SEX CRIMES, BECAUSE OF THE LOCATIONS OF SEX CRIMES AND WHATNOT, THOSE ARE NOT PART OF THE INDEX THAT WE'RE COUNTING FOR DETERRENCE.
UM, THERE'S GENERALLY ONLY A FEW CATEGORIES, UM, AGGRAVATED, RIGHT? WHICH WOULD MEAN WITH A WEAPON THAT WOULD, WE WOULD THINK OF AS SOMETHING THAT WOULD HAPPEN GENERALLY, UM, OUT ON THE STREET.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, YOU'LL NOTICE THAT THE LARGEST REDUCTIONS IN MARCH WERE ACTUALLY SEX CRIMES.
UM, IF YOU GO DOWN TO CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY, UH, AND WE SEE THE ROBBERY CATEGORY, ROBBERY IS UP 13% FROM MARCH, 2022 TO MARCH, 2023.
ROBBERY, ALTHOUGH CLASSIFIED UNDER THE NIBU STANDARD AS A CRIME AGAINST PROPERTY, IS FUNDAMENTALLY A VIOLENT CRIME BY NATURE.
NOW, THERE'S ACTUALLY TWO CATEGORIES OF ROBBERY.
THERE'S ROBBERY BY ASSAULT, AND THERE'S ROBBERY, UH, ROBBERY BY ASSAULT AND ROBBERY.
AGGRAVATED ROBBERY, AGGRAVATED IS PRIMARILY WHAT WE'RE INTERESTED IN.
THAT IS ROBBERY THAT INVOLVES A WEAPON, IF THAT MAKES SENSE.
SO GENERALLY, WHEN WE READ THE CHIEF'S MONTHLY REPORT, COMPARING THEM TO THE VIOLENT CRIME INDEX FOR THE PURPOSE OF, UH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF DPS DEPLOYMENT, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF CONFUSION OVER THAT.
UH, YOU CAN FOLLOW THE SAME INFORMATION IN THE, UH, APRIL REPORT, WHERE YOU'LL NOTICE THAT ALTHOUGH IT'S SHOWING A REDUCTION OF ABOUT 7%, AGAIN, ON CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS OVERALL, THE MAJORITY OF THOSE ARE OCCURRING, UH, WITHIN THE, OF SEXUAL ASSAULT.
RIGHT? SO THAT'S WHERE WE'RE REALLY, THAT'S WHERE WE'RE REALLY SEEING THE MAJORITY OF THE REDUCTION.
UH, AGAIN, YOU'LL NOTICE THERE'S 11% INCREASE IN ROBBERIES THAT MONTH AS WELL.
SO WHEN YOU AVERAGE ROBBERY IN WITH IT, UM, AND RECOGNIZE THE NATURE OF THE TOTAL REPORTING, UH, YOU CAN JUST KIND OF SEE A DIFFERENCE.
AND AGAIN, THAT'S HOPEFULLY IT HELPS UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE IN REPORTING.
I, I'M SORRY, I DO HAVE ONE LAST QUESTION.
UM, AND THIS MIGHT BE ASKED, UH, BY, BY ANOTHER MEMBER TOO, BUT IS, IS THERE ANY TIMELINE OF WHEN THE PARTNERSHIP WOULD RESUME? I'M GONNA LET, UH, UH, DIRECTOR LUCIANO GO AHEAD AND ANSWER THAT ONE.
THERE'S NO SPECIFIC TIMELINE, HOWEVER, UH, WE PLAN ON RESUMING, UH, CURRENTLY WE'RE TIED UP WITH A LOT OF BORDER OPERATIONS.
THERE'S, UH, YOU KNOW, AS YOU'RE FOLLOWING THE NATIONAL NEWS, THE ENDING OF TITLE 42 AND ALL THAT OTHER STUFF.
SO WE, UH, WE ARE, ARE, ARE STILL TRYING TO BE THE BEST PARTNERS WE CAN BE TO THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
THIS WEEKEND THERE WAS A PLANNED STREET TAKEOVER AND WE SENT A LARGE CONTENTION OF TROOPERS TO, UH, ASSIST AUSTIN PD.
WE'RE STILL GONNA BE THE BEST PARTNERS WE CAN BE TO ALL OF OUR LOCAL AGENCIES, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTS, AND ALL OF OUR PARTNERS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, CUZ WE TAKE THE CARE OF THE CITIZENS IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF TEXAS, NO MATTER WHERE THEY RESIDE.
SO, UH, EVEN THOUGH WE'RE COMMITTED OTHER PLACES, SHOULD THE NEED ARISE, WILL WE'LL BE RESPONSIVE TO ANYWHERE IN THE STATE.
CUSTOMER VELA, DID I SEE YOU PUNCH YOUR BUTTON? COULD WE GO TO, UH, SLIDE THREE? IT'S A HEAT MAP FOR INJURIES.
THE ONE WITHOUT THE COUNCIL DISTRICTS, ALTHOUGH THE ONE WITH THE COUNCIL DISTRICT IS FINE TOO.
I'M NOT SURE IF IT'S ACTUALLY SEQUENTIALLY THREE, BUT THAT FIRST HEAT MAP, THERE YOU GO.
UM, THAT SURE LOOKS LIKE A MAP OF I 35 AND IT'S MAJOR INTERSECTIONS.
UH, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE, THAT KIND OF LINE RUNNING THROUGH THE CENTER OF
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AUSTIN, UM, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU SEE DISTRICT FOUR AND THAT KIND OF RED GOING TO, UH, TO THE, THE EAST AND THEN UP THAT YELLOW AND RED GOING UP TO THE NORTHWEST, I MEAN, THAT'S THE INTERSECTION OF 2 91, 83 AND I 35 RIGHT THERE.UH, IS, IS THAT Y'ALL, AGAIN, THINKING OF PRIORITIZATION AND MAXIMIZING PUBLIC BENEFITS, THAT JUST JUMPS OUT AT ME AGAIN AS, AS YOU KNOW, WHERE ARE PEOPLE GETTING HURT? WHERE ARE PEOPLE GETTING INJURED? UH, AND IT'S, AGAIN, I THINK ABOUT IN MY DISTRICT, I MEAN, THEY'RE GETTING INJURED, UH, ON THOSE, UH, THOSE MAJOR HIGHWAYS, MAJOR ROADWAYS, YOU KNOW, THAT'S WHERE THE, THE IS, IS THAT Y'ALL SENSE? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE PATROLLING, THE, THE HIGHWAYS IN, UH, YOU KNOW, THE, THE MAJOR HIGHWAYS IN AUSTIN? WHAT'S YOUR, YOUR, YOUR SENSE OF IT? THAT, UH, WAS OUR, OUR EXACT SENSE OF IT AS WELL, COUNCIL MEMBER.
AND THAT, IF YOU'LL REMEMBER BACK TO MY BRIEFS THAT I PREVIOUSLY GAVE, WE WERE CONCENTRATED ON THE, ON THE MAIN, YOU KNOW, HIGH SPEED ROADWAYS, LIKE I 35, 71, 2 90 MM-HMM.
UM, AS THOSE, UM, AS THOSE MAPS WOULD KIND OF DRIVE, THIS IS WHERE WE'RE SEEING SERIOUS INJURY CRASHES AND FATALITIES.
UM, AND WE SAW PART OF THE DEPLOYMENT WAS REALLY CONCENTRATED ON THESE AREAS.
WELL, UH, AND, AND THAT WAS JUST, THAT JUST JUMPED OUT TO ME, UH, UH, AS SEEING THE MAP.
I, I JUST WANNA SAY THAT I DO, UH, APPRECIATE THE, THE REDEPLOYMENT IN RESPONSE TO, UM, THE COUNCIL, UH, COMMUNICATIONS AND, AND, AND CONCERNS.
UH, I KNOW THAT FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, YOU KNOW, FOLKS IN THE, THE LAMAR RUNDBERG AREA WHO WERE FEELING, YOU KNOW, OVER POLICE, UH, HAVE, HAVE NOT BEEN CONTACTING ME AS MUCH ABOUT THOSE SAME CONCERNS.
SO MY SENSE IS THAT THERE WAS KIND OF A CERTAIN, UH, UH, RELIEF TO SEE THE, THE PATROL SPREAD OUT.
AND AGAIN, JUST ANECDOTAL FEEDBACK FROM OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS AND OTHER FOLKS KIND OF, NOT JUST IN D FOUR, BUT AROUND TOWN, YOU KNOW, SOME FOLKS ARE HAPPY TO SEE A DPS PATROLLING IN, YOU KNOW, 22, 22 OR, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER, WHEREVER THAT, THAT MAY BE.
SO, YOU KNOW, I, I UNDERSTAND THE KIND OF THE DATA, UH, CONCERNS THAT ARE, THAT ARE DRIVING THE PROGRAM, BUT I DO APPRECIATE, UH, YOUR, THE RESPONSIVENESS TO THE COUNCIL CONCERNS AND THE, AND THE PUBLIC CONCERNS.
UM, AND THANK YOU CHIEF CHACON AND D PS FOR BEING HERE.
I REALLY APPRECIATE YOU ALL COLLABORATING TOGETHER AND BEING RESPONSIVE TO COUNCIL'S QUESTIONS AND NEEDS.
UM, I DO HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS.
UH, CHIEF CHACON, WHAT DOES A P D SEE AS THE IMPACT WITH, TO THE CITY? WITH D P S NO LONGER ABLE TO HELP US, WELL, WITH THEM NO LONGER BEING ABLE TO HELP US.
WE HAVE FEWER OFFICERS ONCE AGAIN, THAT ARE RESPONDING TO EMERGENT CALLS.
AND, UM, THAT TO ME IS PROBLEMATIC.
UM, AND THAT IS NOT, YOU KNOW, CERTAINLY NOT A KNOCK ON ON ANYONE.
IT, IT IS WHERE A P D FINDS ITSELF, UM, WITH REGARD TO STAFFING.
AND SO IN EACH ONE OF THESE AREAS, I HAVE A FINITE NUMBER OF OFFICERS THAT I'M ABLE TO DEPLOY.
UH, WE HAVE BACKFILL PERSONNEL THAT ARE COMING IN FROM OTHER, UM, UNITS AND OTHER RANKS TO, UH, ANSWER EMERGENCY CALLS.
UH, I NEED TO, UH, YOU KNOW, I'M GRATEFUL THAT THIS PAST WEEKEND WE WERE ABLE TO, UH, GRADUATE A CLASS, UM, AND, AND ADD THOSE PEOPLE INTO THE ACADEMY, UM, INTO, OUT ON THE STREETS.
UH, WE STARTED ANOTHER ACADEMY TODAY.
UH, BUT THOSE NUMBERS ARE RELATIVELY SMALL GIVEN THE NUMBER OF VACANCIES THAT WE HAVE.
SO DPS IS THAT FORCE MULTIPLIER THAT WAS REALLY HELPING US TO US, TO SLOW ALL OF THESE THINGS, TO HAVE THEM GO ON A DECLINE.
AND, UH, THE FACT THEY'RE NOT HERE NOW, WE ARE SEEING THAT, THAT THOSE NUMBERS ARE STARTING TO CLIMB AGAIN.
I APPRECIATE THAT INFORMATION REGARDING THE CADETS WHO JUST GRADUATED, UM, THAT WAS ACTUALLY MY FOLLOW UP QUESTION.
HOW LONG, OR DO YOU EVEN HAVE AN ESTIMATION OF HOW LONG IT MAY TAKE TO FILL THE VACANCIES THAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE? WELL, THERE, UM, THERE ARE REALLY TWO FACTORS THAT AFFECT THAT.
HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN I, UM, CAN I ENCOURAGE AND, AND RECRUIT INTO AN ACADEMY CLASS? AND THE SECOND PART BEING, HOW CAN I RETAIN THE PEOPLE THAT I HAVE? AND, UM, THE NUMBERS THAT WE'RE LOSING CONTINUE TO BE VERY HIGH, AND THE NUMBERS THAT I'M RECRUITING INTO THE CLASS ARE RELATIVELY LOW.
SO I DON'T HAVE A GOOD TIMELINE OTHER THAN TO TELL YOU THAT IT IS NOT ON THE HORIZON.
UH, IT'S GONNA BE QUITE A BIT OF TIME BEFORE WE'RE ABLE TO REALLY, UM, FILL THOSE VACANCIES, AND WE'RE WORKING VERY HARD TO GET THAT DONE.
HAS, UM, THE DEPARTMENT GONE THROUGH ANY SORT OF OPERATIONAL CHANGES, OR HAVE YOU HEARD ANY, AND HAVE YOU HEARD ANY FEEDBACK FROM OFFICERS SINCE D P LEFT? UM, THE FEEDBACK
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WAS OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE FROM THE OFFICERS WHEN DPS GOT HERE.UH, THEY WERE GLAD FOR SOME RELIEF.
AND, UH, IT HAS BEEN SOMEWHAT NEGATIVE OBVIOUSLY, SINCE THEY'VE LEFT, BECAUSE, UH, THEY, UH, ENJOYED HAVING THAT, THAT BACKUP O OUT ON THE STREET.
UM, WITH REGARD TO OPERATIONAL CHANGES, UM, WE ARE IN A, A BIT OF A STEADY STATE RIGHT NOW WITH HOW MANY PERSONNEL THAT WE ARE REDEPLOYING FOR BACKFILL OPERATIONS.
UM, BUT THAT MAY CHANGE IN THE COMING WEEKS AND MONTHS AS WE CONTINUE TO LOSE FOLKS.
UH, AND UNTIL THOSE BRAND NEW OFFICERS CAN COME OFF PROBATION AND START TAKING CALLS ON THEIR OWN.
AND THEN MY LAST QUESTION, ARE THERE ANY TOOLS THAT COUNCIL CAN PROVIDE TO A P D THAT MAY ALLOW A P D TO WORK WITHIN THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE VACANCIES THAT YOU HAVE WITH D PS NO LONGER HERE? YEAH.
UH, I THINK THAT COUNCIL HAS BEEN VERY RESPONSIVE TO THOSE TYPE OF REQUESTS THAT HAVE COME OVER FROM THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE.
I WILL CONTINUE TO, UH, TO WORK WITH, UM, UH, ACM, UH, BRUCE MILLS, AS WELL AS OUR CITY MANAGER TO, UH, TO LOOK TO PROVIDE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR REQUESTS THAT COULD REALLY HELP US AND CONVEY 'EM TO COUNSEL TO, UH, TO HELP FULFILL IT.
AND, UM, I JUST, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT AS COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT WE LISTEN TO FEEDBACK AND THAT WE HEAR FROM THE COMMUNITY ABOUT THIS.
SO I'M GLAD TO SEE OUR CHAMBERS FILLED TODAY WITH INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE HERE TO SPEAK.
UM, I'VE ALSO GOTTEN THOUSANDS OF EMAILS IN SUPPORT OF THIS PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION, AND I'VE HEARD FROM PEOPLE IN MY DISTRICT, I'VE DRIVEN THROUGH THE DISTRICT AND SEEING DPS, PULLING PEOPLE OVER OR JUST, UM, AT CALLS FOR ASSISTANCE.
AND SO I'M APPRECIATIVE OF THE COLLABORATION.
AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR BEING HERE TODAY.
UM, THANK YOU FOR, FOR JOINING US DIRECTOR LUCIANO.
UM, I GUESS JUST TO TAKE A STEP BACK, I WANTED TO LAY OUT MY UNDERSTANDING AND, AND THANK YOU, UH, DR.
KINGIAN FOR MEETING WITH ME AND MY TEAM ON FRIDAY.
I THINK THAT CONVERSATION REALLY HELPED ILLUMINATE HOW, UH, THE OPERATION TOOK, HOW IT UNFOLDED.
UM, SO JUST TO BE REALLY CLEAR, CAUSE I WANNA MAKE SURE OUR COMMUNITY, THAT ONE WELL, WELL, ONE, I WANNA MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND IT CORRECTLY.
AND TOO, I WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THE COMMUNITY ALSO HEARS MORE ABOUT HOW EXACTLY THE PATROLLING TOOK PLACE.
UM, IT SEEMS TO ME, BASED ON INFORMATION PROVIDED TO ME ON FRIDAY, THAT THE AREAS IN WHICH DPS WERE FIRST SENT TO WERE BASED BY AN INTERSECTION OF WHERE WE HAVE HIGH INJURY CRASHES AND FATALITIES AND THE INTERSECTION OF WHERE THERE'S HIGH CALLS FOR SERVICE.
IS THAT RIGHT? THAT'S CORRECT.
WE FOCUSED, WE FOCUSED, UH, AN INITIAL GROUP ON SIMPLY THE MAJOR THOROUGH HARRIS, AS WE TALKED ABOUT I 35 2 90, UH, 180 3, UM, AND, UH, I'M SORRY, MOPAC AS WELL.
AND SO THE REST OF THE CONTINGENT, WE LOOKED FOR THOSE AREAS TO MAXIMIZE THE GAIN, UH, WHERE WE SAW BOTH HIGH LEVELS OF EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE INVOLVING FIREARMS AND TRAFFIC COLLISIONS, INVOLV, UH, RESULTING IN, UH, TRAFFIC CRASHES RESULTING IN, UH, INJURIES OR FATALITIES.
AND SO AREAS WHERE BOTH OF THOSE OCCURRED WERE THE GUIDING, UH, INFORMATION FOR THAT DEPLOYMENT.
SO BASED ON YOUR DATA HERE THAT YOU PRESENTED, AND THIS DATA IS, IS IT TIED TO VISION ZERO? SO WHAT WE DO IS WE LOOK AT TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
AND SO VISION ZERO, WE LOOKED AT, WE LOOK AT THEIR DATA, UM, AND WE LOOKED AT THEIR IMPACT DATA.
VISION ZERO HAS, UH, AUSTIN TRAFFIC HAS A METHODOLOGY FOR PROJECTING EFFECTIVELY THE COST OF A COLLISION, RIGHT? AND SO WHAT WE LOOKED FOR IN OUR DATA, UH, WAS THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF COLLISIONS RESULTING IN INJURIES.
AND THEN WE REFERENCED THEIR DATA TO MEASURE SOME FORM OF THE IMPACT.
THERE'S A HIGH LEVEL OF OVERLAP IN BOTH OF THOSE.
UM, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT AN AREA, UM, WHERE THERE'RE REPEATED COLLISIONS OR CRASHES, UH, YOU HAVE A GREATER IMPACT OVERALL.
SO WE WORKED WITH AUSTIN TRAFFIC ON THAT.
THE NEXT THING THAT WE DID, BECAUSE AUSTIN TRAFFIC'S METHODOLOGY PLACES, UH, SO MUCH INFORMATION, UH, OR SO MUCH, UH, EMPHASIS ON I 35.
AND SINCE I 35 ITSELF WAS ONE OF THE INITIAL, UH, SINGULAR DEPLOYMENTS, RIGHT? FOR, FOR THE, UH, FOR THE DPS TROOPERS, UH, WE BEGAN TO WORK WITH AUSTIN TRAFFIC TO HAVE THEM HELP US ISOLATE AREAS, NOT I 35.
SO THESE WOULD BE MORE INTERSECTIONS WITHIN THE CITY.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT SURFACE ROADS AS WELL.
AND THAT'S ONE BECAUSE LET'S DIG ON, LET'S DIG IN ON THAT.
SO THE, YOU MENTIONED YOU FOCUSED ON I 35 IN THE BEGINNING.
YOU KNOW, I WAS IN A MEETING WITH OUR COUNTY ATTORNEY, UM, WHO SHARED WITH US A MAP OF WHERE THE CITATIONS WERE ACTUALLY COMING FROM.
AND WE SAW RIVERSIDE AS A PREDOMINANT, PREDOMINANT AREA OF WHERE CITATIONS WERE HELD.
SO IF THE FOCUS WAS ADDITIONAL WAS FIRST FOCUSED ON I 35, WOULD WE HAVE NOT HAVE SEEN MORE CITATIONS BEING ISSUED ON I 35?
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SO I WANT TO TAKE THAT ONE IN.UH, CERTAINLY DIRECTOR LUCIANO CAN FILL IN ANY, UM, ANY GAPS THAT HE SEES.
BUT I WANT TO JUST, UH, JUST AS A REMINDER, UM, THREE OUT OF EVERY FOUR POSSIBLE CITATIONS THAT DPS COULD WRITE, THEY ISSUED A WARNING ON.
THE ONES THAT THEY WROTE GENERALLY WERE THE ONES THAT BY POLICY THEY HAVE TO WRITE, SUCH AS NO DRIVER'S LICENSE, UH, AND SOME OTHERS.
AND, UM, AND SO WHERE, YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT YOU CAN'T SOLELY LOOK AT THE, THE TICKETS THAT ARE WRITTEN.
YOU NEED TO LOOK AT ALL THE STOPS, INCLUDING THE WARNINGS.
THAT'S THE INFORMATION THAT WE'RE STILL TRYING TO GET.
CUZ I DON'T KNOW TODAY HOW MANY WARNINGS WERE WRITTEN ON 9 35 OR MOPAC OR THOSE OTHER ROADWAYS WHERE DPS WAS WORKING.
WHAT WE KNOW ARE THE TICKETS THAT WERE WRITTEN, WHICH BY POLICY HAD TO BE WRITTEN, WELL, MOST OF 'EM HAVE BY POLICY HAD TO BE WRITTEN.
UM, AND SO UNTIL WE HAVE ALL THAT DATA, I'M NOT SURE THAT IT PAINTS AS CLEAR A PICTURE AS WE WOULD LIKE.
YOU KNOW, I, YOU KNOW, I SHARE IN THE OBJECTIVE OF TRYING TO CREATE SAFER STREETS AND, AND CERTAINLY, YOU KNOW, APPRECIATE THAT THE WAY ONE OF THE GOALS FOR THIS OPERATION WAS TO REDUCE SERIOUS TRAFFIC FATALITIES AND INJURIES.
AND SO TO ME, THE CITATIONS THAT WOULD'VE BEEN WELCOMED TO SEE WOULD'VE BEEN, YOU KNOW, CITATIONS FOR SPEEDING, UH, FOR RUNNING A RED LIGHT, UH, ESPECIALLY ALONG, UM, SPEEDING ALONG I 35.
BUT THAT ON PRELIMINARY DATA THAT WAS ISSUED, LIKE YOU SAID, CHIEF, YOU SAID MOST OF THE CITATIONS THAT WERE GIVEN WERE FOR DRIVING WITHOUT A DRIVER'S LICENSE.
UM, AND SO I THINK, WELL, FIRST I, YES, DIRECTOR, DID YOU HAVE A COMMENT TO SAY, I WOULD LIKE TO, SO FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE BEEN IN A PATROL CAR BEFORE, WE NOTICE THAT PEOPLE TEND TO DRIVE MUCH BETTER WHEN THEY SEE US THAN WHEN THEY DON'T.
HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT TO STOP SOMEBODY FOR SPEEDING OR RUNNING RED LIGHTS AND ALL THOSE OTHER KIND OF THINGS, TYPICALLY THAT'S WHY THEY CALL THEM SPEED TRAPS.
SO THE GOAL OF THIS OPERATION WAS NOT TO HIDE AND WRITE TICKETS.
THE GOAL OF THIS OPERATION WAS TO BE SEEN, TO BE VISIBLE WITH A PRESENCE THAT DETERS BOTH VIOLENT CRIME AND BAD TRAFFIC.
BAD DRIVING, POOR DRIVING, ILLEGAL DRIVING.
SO THAT IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE REASONS WHY YOU DIDN'T SEE A LOT OF, UH, SPEED ENFORCEMENT.
CUZ WHEN WE ARE VISIBLE, PEOPLE TEND TO DRIVE, UH, MORE CAREFULLY.
THE BYPRODUCT OF THAT GOES BACK TO THE COUNCILMAN'S SITTING TO YOUR, YOUR RIGHT, UH, ON HOW WE GET TO A BUNCH OF VIOLATIONS THAT AREN'T SPEEDING AND WHAT HAVE YOU IS BECAUSE THOSE ARE THE VIOLATIONS THAT WE SEE.
SO I, I THINK BACK IN MY DAY, THERE WERE 367 TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS IN THE TRAFFIC CODE.
I COULD BE WRONG CHIEF, HE PROBABLY KNOWS OFF THE TOP OF HIS HEAD, BUT I REMEMBER HE TOLD THAT ONE TIME.
SO, THE ONLY LAWS THAT YOU CAN ENFORCE ARE THE ONES THAT YOU SEE COMMITTED.
SO EVERYBODY WANTS TO SEE SOMETHING SPECIFIC IN THE REAL WORLD.
YOU ENFORCE THE LAWS THAT YOU SEE MM-HMM.
SO IF SOMEBODY'S NOT SPEEDING, YOU CAN'T, I, I DON'T KNOW, BEFORE I SAW HIM THAT HE WAS SPEEDING SOMEPLACE ELSE.
SO I GET TO STOP HIM FOR THAT.
SO THAT, THAT IS A LOT OF WHY THE DATA DOESN'T SHOW SPEEDING VIOLATIONS, BECAUSE WE ARE THERE TO BE HIGHLY VISIBLE TO DETER CRIME.
WE WANT SAFER NEIGHBORHOODS, WE WANT SAFER STREETS.
AND WHEN PEOPLE SEE POLICE OFFICERS WITH LIGHTS TURNING ONE, THE OTHER BYPRODUCT OF THAT IS WE ARE MORE VISIBLE.
SO PEOPLE TEND TO DRIVE BETTER AND THEY DON'T COMMIT CRIME AT OUR PRESENCE.
WELL, THANK YOU, DIRECTOR LUCIANO.
AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, HAVING MORE DPS PRESENCE ON I 35 ON 2222 ON MOPAC, THAT WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, A WELCOMED, UM, UH, PARTNERSHIP, A WELCOMED EFFORT, UH, OF THE PARTNERSHIP.
UH, WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO ILLUMINATE TO THE COMMUNITY IS THAT UNFORTUNATELY, DURING THE FIRST FEW WEEKS WITH THE COMMUNITY SAW WHERE DPS TROOPERS WITHIN THE NEIGHBORHOODS, AND SO HAVING THIS INFORMATION PRESENTED TODAY THAT THE REASON WHY, YOU KNOW, WE HAD A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF TROOPERS THE FIRST WEEK ON RIVERSIDE WAS BECAUSE BASED ON THE DATA THAT YOU SHARED OF HAVING THE INTERSECTION OF HIGH TRAFFIC INJURIES AND HIGH TRAFFIC FATALITIES WITH THE INTERSECTION OF CALLS FOR SERVICE, THAT WAS THE REASON WHY THE OPERATION WAS FIRST DEPLOYED INTO OUR EAST SIDE COMMUNITIES.
I GUESS DIRECTOR LUCIANO, MOVING FORWARD, WE KNOW THAT THIS OPERATION CURRENTLY IS ON PAUSE, LIKE YOU HAVE SHARED, UM, WITH US, THAT IT IS GOING TO RETURN AT SOME POINT.
UH, WHEN WE HEARD FROM COLONEL MCCRAW, HE SHARED WITH US PUBLICLY THAT THE TROOPERS ARE DEPLOYED, YOU KNOW, AT THE DISCRETION AND THE DIRECTION OF OUR POLICE CHIEF, CHIEF CHAK.
UH, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT MOVING FORWARD FOR THE NEXT ITERATION OF THE OPERATION? ANY, YOU KNOW, KNOWING THE ADJUSTMENTS THAT HAVE THAT WERE
[00:40:01]
MADE TOWARDS THE END OF THE PROGRAM, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FOR, FOR THE SECOND PHASE? THIS IS A COLLABORATION.SO A LOT OF TIMES, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE THESE DISCUSSIONS.
PERSONALLY, I WANT TO BE THE MOST VISIBLE I CAN OR HAVE MY PEOPLE BE AS THE MOST VISIBLE THEY CAN IN THE AREAS THAT ARE MOST AFFECTED BY COST FOR SERVICE, VIOLENT CRIMES AND TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS.
SO, UM, THAT DATA IS, COMES FROM THE AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND THEN THERE'S ALSO SOME OTHER FACTORS THAT GO INTO IT.
AND, YOU KNOW, BASED ON THAT IS WHERE WE WILL MOVE.
CHIEF, ANY COMMENTS FROM YOU? WELL, I APPRECIATE THE QUESTION, COUNCIL MEMBER.
AND, AND, UH, AS YOU SAW IN, UH, JUST AS THE OPERATION BEFORE IT WAS PUT ON PAUSE, THERE WAS A REDEPLOYMENT FROM THE AREAS, AND THAT WAS ALL BASED AGAIN, ON DATA.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I, I HAVE TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT COUNCIL MEMBERS, YOU KNOW, AND THE COUN, THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL'S DESIRES ABOUT HOW, HOW THEY'D LIKE TO SEE POLICING SERVICES DELIVERED IN THE CITY, UH, THAT WEIGH INTO IT AS WELL.
UM, AND WHAT WE SAW WAS, YOU KNOW, THE, A DEPLOYMENT REALLY IN AREAS WHERE, UM, YOU HADN'T SEEN AS MUCH DPS PRESENCE, UH, AND IT, AND IT CONTINUED TO HAVE A GOOD EFFECT UP UNTIL WE HAD TO PUT IT ON PAUSE.
UM, THAT IS GOING, THAT, THAT IS LARGELY WHAT IS GOING TO DRIVE THE EFFORT MOVING FORWARD.
UM, I'VE HEARD VERY CLEARLY, UH, DPS HAS HEARD VERY CLEARLY WHAT THE COUNCIL'S WISHES ARE WITH HOW THE OPERATIONS SHOULD BE CONDUCTED.
WE WANT TO OPERATE WITHIN THAT FRAMEWORK.
WE ALSO WANT TO AFFECT VIOLENT CRIME AND SERIOUS INJURY COLLISIONS.
SO, UH, WE'LL WORK TOWARDS A PLAN AND, AND, UH, OBVIOUSLY PROVIDE DATA, PROVIDE UPDATES TO COUNSEL ON AN ONGOING BASIS SO THAT Y'ALL KNOW EXACTLY HOW WE'RE DOING IT.
THANK Y'ALL FOR BEING HERE WITH US TODAY.
UM, WHEN WE, WHEN WE SAT DOWN AND MET WITH, UH, COUNTY ATTORNEY ZA AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY GAZA AND, UH, AND THE REST OF THE FOLKS THAT ARE HERE IN THE ROOM, UH, WE TALKED ABOUT FORMING A WORKING GROUP SO THAT WE WOULD HA BE ABLE TO COMPILE DATA AND, UM, PROPERLY DISPERSE IT TO THE COMMUNITY SO THAT PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF WHAT'S HAPPENING AND WHERE IT'S HAPPENING.
HAVE WE ALREADY PUT THE WHEELS ON THAT? SO WE'VE HAD, WE'VE EXCHANGED SEVERAL EMAILS.
IT IS TOUGH TO GET, UH, SOME OF THE, UH, LEADERSHIP IN THE SAME ROOM AT THE SAME TIME, HAVE NOT SETTLED ON A FINAL SCHEDULE YET.
AND AT THIS JUNCTURE, UH, AND I APPRECIATE YOU DOCTOR, FOR CHATTING WITH US ON FRIDAY, WHAT DATA ARE WE MISSING AND HOW CAN WE GET THAT IN ORDER TO, BECAUSE THE, THE INITIAL ISSUE WAS THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE A FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THE NUMBERS BECAUSE THERE WAS DATA THAT WAS MISSING.
ARE WE STILL THERE? AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO GET THERE OR GET BEYOND THAT? EXCUSE ME.
YEAH, SO THE KEY INFORMATION, THAT'S THE KEY QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ASKED ARE DATA THAT ARE NOT APD OPERATIONAL DATA.
AND SO THOSE DATA ARE, I'M SORRY, DOCTOR, CAN YOU PULL THE MIC CLOSER TO YOUR MOUTH? UM, YOU'RE NOT, YOU'RE BETTER, YOU'RE NOT, YOU'RE NOT AS SOFT SPOKEN AS DIRECTOR LUCIANO, BUT, UM, YEAH.
BUT YOU ARE SOFT SPOKEN AND YEAH.
AND PLEASE START THAT ANSWER AGAIN IF YOU DON'T MIND.
SO THE KEY INFORMATION THAT WE'VE BEEN ASKED ABOUT THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO PROVIDE ARE THE INFORMATION THAT A P D IS NOT THE CUSTODIAN OF RECORD FOR.
UM, AND SO ARE THERE DATA THAT ARE FUNDAMENTALLY DO NOT BELONG TO THE CITY OF AUSTIN? AND SO WE HAVE ASKED, UH, BOTH OF THE COURTS TO PROVIDE US INFORMATION, UM, THAT WE CAN USE TO START TO FILL IN SOME OF THE BLANKS, RIGHT? AND SO WE HAVE, UH, REVIEWED SOME INFORMATION, UH, FROM DPS THAT THEY'VE SHARED WITH US ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES AND WHATNOT, UM, SO THAT WE CAN UNDERSTAND, UH, THE INFORMATION COMING OUT FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES, RIGHT? SO, UM, SO THE INFORMATION THAT'S PROBABLY MOST PERTINENT TO THE DISCUSSION WILL HAVE TO COME FROM THE COURTS.
THAT'S GONNA BE THE MISDEMEANOR ARREST INFORMATION.
IT'S GONNA BE THE MIS, IT'S GONNA BE THE FELONY ARREST INFORMATION, UH, AND THE CITATION INFORMATION.
AND SO, UH, AT THIS POINT, BECAUSE WE HAVE A LIMITED ABILITY TO REVIEW DATA, UM, WE DO HAVE TO SORT OF, UH, USE AN INFERENTIAL REASONING, RIGHT? SO WE LOOK AT THINGS LIKE THE, UH, 167 MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS, UM, WHICH THE DISPROPORTIONALITY WAS DISCUSSED.
UM, SO WE LOOKED AT, YOU KNOW, SO WE LOOKED AT THOSE, UH, I ONLY REVIEWED THE 104, THE FIRST THREE WEEKS, NOT THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS.
UH, IMPORTANTLY, THERE WERE 94 MISDEMEANOR WARRANTS IN THOSE ARRESTS.
AND SO, AS, AS WE ALL RECALL, THOSE ARE REQUIRED BY LAW.
THERE IS NO ME, THERE'S NO MECHANISM WHEREBY ANY OFFICER A P D DPS OR OTHERWISE CANNOT
[00:45:01]
MAKE THAT ARREST.UM, SO WE ARE DOING ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS ON THE INFORMATION WE DO HAVE TO TRY TO INFORM, UM, FOR EXAMPLE, WE'VE BEGAN, WE'VE BEGAN A STUDY OF THE CURRENTLY OPEN WARRANTS THAT WE HAVE IN OUR SYSTEM FOR ARREST WARRANTS, UM, SO THAT WE CAN UNDERSTAND, UH, THE DISPARITY THAT EXISTS IN WARRANTS, AND TO THE EXTENT THAT WARRANTS DRIVE ARRESTS, WHICH THEY MUST, WE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW THAT CONTRIBUTES TO THE, THE RATIOS THAT WE'RE SEEING.
AND I JUST WANT TO ADD ONE, UH, ADDITIONAL, UH, ITEM ON THAT QUESTION, WHICH IS, I'VE HAD CONVERSATIONS WITH THE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, UM, UH, I HAVEN'T SPOKEN DIRECTLY WITH, UH, JP CHU, BUT, UM, WE'RE STILL WORKING WITH ALL OF THEM.
UH, DISTRICT ATTORNEY GARZA INFORMED ME THAT HE ANTICIPATED BEING ABLE TO PROVIDE GOOD DATA TO ME THIS WEEK, PERHAPS AS, AS EARLY AS, UH, TOMORROW OR WEDNESDAY.
UH, THAT WOULD GIVE ME THE KIND OF INFORMATION THAT WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR, AND I KNOW THAT COUNCIL HAS BEEN ASKING FOR.
SO, UM, I'M HOPEFUL ON THAT FRONT.
BUT, UM, AGAIN, WE'RE, WE'RE A LITTLE BIT AT THE, AT THE MERCY OF, OF GETTING THAT INFORMATION FROM OUR PARTNERS.
AND ONCE WE, AND THANK YOU FOR THAT.
UH, AND I WANT TO TOUCH ON WHAT, UM, WHAT COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTES AND AND COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, UH, VELA SPOKE ABOUT INITIALLY, THE, THERE WAS A HEAVY, VERY HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE IN DISTRICT THREE.
IN DISTRICT FOUR, WE KNOW THAT WE ASKED FOR A REALIGNMENT READJUSTMENT OF, OF THIS PARTNERSHIP.
ARE Y'ALL ABLE TO TELL US WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE NOW IF WE HAVE A HUNDRED OFFICERS IN AUSTIN AND HOW THEY MAY BE DISPERSED ACROSS THE CITY? UH, IF I, I WANNA MAKE SURE I, OR, OR WHEN, WHEN, WHEN, WHEN WE HAVE THEM HERE, EXCUSE ME, THE, UH, THE A HUNDRED D DPSS OFFICERS, OH, WHEN, UH, WHEN DPS IS HERE AND WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.
SO WE DID NOT CHANGE ANY OF OUR DEPLOYMENT STRATEGIES FOR OUR APD OFFICERS.
WHILE THE UPS IS HERE, THOSE REMAIN THE SAME, AND IT'S ALL BASED ON, UM, YOU KNOW, CALL THE NUMBER OF CALLS FOR SERVICE, THE TYPES OF CALLS FOR SERVICE.
UM, AND THEN WHERE, UM, OUR, OUR SECTOR AND, AND DISTRICT LINES ARE, ARE DRAWN THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, WE'LL, WE'LL DEPLOY THE NUMBER OF OFFICERS IN EACH ONE OF THOSE SECTORS BASED ON, ON THOSE, ON THAT TYPE OF, OF DATA.
IT IS NOT, IT DID NOT CHANGE BECAUSE THE DPS DEPLOYMENT, UM, COULD POTENTIALLY CHANGE EVERY SINGLE WEEK BASED ON WHERE THE COST FOR SERVICE IS HAPPENING.
SO WE DON'T WANT TO, WE DON'T WANT TO ADJUST THE NUMBER OF APD OFFICERS AS WELL.
UM, SO THAT DID NOT, THAT DID NOT CHANGE.
BUT WITH THE DPS OFFICERS, HOW DID THAT CH HOW WAS THAT CHANGED? THAT, I WANNA MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND YOUR QUESTION.
YOU'RE SAYING WHERE ARE WE DEPLOYING THE DPS OFFICER? YES, SIR.
SO THAT IS ALWAYS GONNA BE BASED ON THE DATA THAT WE'RE PROVIDED THAT WE'RE PROVIDING TO THEM ON THE CALLS FOR SERVICE, THE P ZERO, UH, GUN HOTSHOT CALLS, AS WELL AS THE TRAFFIC DATA.
AND, UM, AS YOU, AS YOU SAW, THOSE WERE THE FIRST FEW WEEKS WERE REALLY ALONG THE I 35 QUARTER, UH, AND IN PREDOMINANTLY TWO AREAS OF THE CITY.
IN THE LATER PART, UH, IT REALLY DIS FURTHER DISPERSED BASED ON, UH, WHERE THAT CRASH DATA WAS, AS WELL AS CALLS FOR SERVICE.
AND WE'LL HAVE TO JUST REALLY LOOK AT WHAT DOES THE DATA LOOK LIKE WHEN THEY'RE READY TO COME BACK.
AND THAT WILL ONCE AGAIN DRIVE THAT, YOU KNOW, DRIVE THE OPERATION.
WHEN WE TALKED ABOUT, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE DATA THAT WE'RE COMPILING AS A WORKING GROUP, UH, WITH ALL THESE, WITH ALL THE ORGANIZATIONS, HOW ARE WE GONNA MAKE THAT AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC ONCE WE RECEIVE THE INFORMATION AND WE CAN, UH, PRO, YOU KNOW, PROVIDE SOME ANALYSIS ON IT THROUGH DR.
K CORGAN'S, UH, STAFF, UH, SOMETHING SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU SEE HERE.
WE MAY PROVIDE IT IN A MEMO FORMAT, OR WE MAY PROVIDE IT AS PART OF A FORMAL PRESENTATION.
I JUST HAD A, A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROVISION OF THE DATA FROM OUR COUNTY PARTNERS.
YOU MENTIONED DA GARZA, HIS JURISDICTION IS, WHAT SPECIFICALLY IS IT FELONIES, FELONY CASES, AND WHERE DO THE MISDEMEANOR CASES FALL? WHO HAS THOSE, THOSE FALL UNDER THE COUNTY ATTORNEY, UH, COUNTY ATTORNEY GARZA.
AND YOU MENTIONED THAT DA GARZA WAS WILLING TO PROVIDE, UM, THE ARREST DATA.
UH, AND HE'S WORKING TO GET US THAT IT'S BEEN HOW MANY WEEKS SINCE WE STARTED THIS? UM, SIX, THIS PARTNERSHIP, ABOUT SIX WEEKS.
IT'S BEEN SIX WEEKS, UH, WITH ONE OF THOSE WEEKS BEING NO DEPLOYMENT.
SO, SO HE'S WORKING TO GET US THE INFORMATION THAT WE NEED IN ORDER TO ASSURE THE COMMUNITY THAT WE'RE BEING TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE ON ARRESTS.
WHAT ABOUT AT THE COUNTY ATTORNEY LEVEL? WHAT, WHAT'S, IS THERE A HOLD UP THERE? I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE HOLD UP IS, COUNCIL MEMBER,
[00:50:01]
UM, BUT THEY HAVE INDICATED THAT THERE'S, THERE'S NO, UM, TIMELINE AT THIS POINT ON WHEN THEY'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO PROVIDE IT.DO WE, DO WE KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? I REALLY DON'T.
UM, I THINK THAT'S PROBABLY A, A, YOU KNOW, A GOOD QUESTION FOR, FOR COUNTY ATTORNEY GARZA.
UH, SHE PROVIDED OBVIOUSLY SOME DATA, UH, A COUPLE WEEKS BACK, UH, RELATED TO WHAT SHE WAS SEEING IN, IN SOME OF THE DEMOGRAPHICS AND SO FORTH.
WE ASKED FOR MORE DETAILED DATA TO BE ABLE TO, AS, UH, DR.
KRAN WAS TALKING ABOUT, HOW MANY OF THOSE WERE WARRANT ARRESTS, WHERE DID THE ARRESTS OCCUR AND SO FORTH, AND HAVE YET TO RECEIVE IT.
SO IS THIS INFORMATION SUBJECT TO, UM, OPEN RECORDS DISCLOSURE? I WOULD THINK SO.
AND IS THAT UNDER THE, THERE'S SOME TIMELINES RELATED TO OPEN RECORDS DISCLOSURE, IS THAT CORRECT? WHEN YOU GO THROUGH THAT OFFICIAL PROCESS, YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT THAT? YEAH.
UNDER TEXAS PUBLIC INFORMATION LAW, THERE'S A LIMITED PERIOD OF TIME IN WHICH YOU CAN PROVIDE AN ESTIMATE OF TIMELINE, RIGHT? BUT THE ACTUAL TIMELINE FOR DELIVERY CAN GO WAY BEYOND THAT.
AND SO, UM, WE DO BELIEVE THAT, WE DO BELIEVE THAT WE ARE, WILL MAKE PROGRESS ON OBTAINING THE DATA.
AND SO WE'RE STILL PURSUING IT THROUGH THE, THROUGH THE, UH, EXECUTIVE DISCUSSION AND WHATNOT.
AND SO WE BELIEVE THAT WE WILL ACTUALLY, UH, GET THE DATA REASONABLY SOON, UM, AND ALLOW US TO ACTUALLY TAKE A LOOK IN MORE DETAIL, RIGHT? BECAUSE THE INITIAL DATA WERE LIMITED, AS WE MENTIONED, THE 94 WARRANTS IN THE FIRST 104 ARRESTS MEANS WE WANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT MORE, MORE THOROUGHLY.
AND WE KNOW UNDER THE OPEN RECORDS ACT, UH, UH, GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY IS REQUIRED TO RELEASE THE INFORMATION THAT'S BEEN REQUESTED WITHIN 10 DAYS OF THE REQUEST WHEN THEY KNOW THAT IT IS RELEASABLE OR GO TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO REQUEST, UM, A REASON NOT TO RELEASE IT.
SO, UM, I KNOW WE'RE NOT IN THAT FORMAL KIND OF, UH, SITUATION WITH, UM, OUR PARTNERS AT THE COUNTY, BUT IT IS A LITTLE BIT DISAPPOINTING AND CONCERNING, I THINK, TO ALL OF US HERE AT THE CITY THAT WE ARE INHIBITED FROM PROVIDING SOME GOOD DATA ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS TO THE PUBLIC WHO ARE ABSOLUTELY WANTING IT AND DESERVING TO RECEIVE IT.
BUT WE, WE SEEM TO BE RUNNING INTO SOME OBSTACLES.
UM, I SURE DO HOPE THAT WE ARE ABLE TO, UH, THAT WE SEE THESE OBSTACLES BE OVERCOME AND, UH, THAT WE GET FULL ACCOUNTING AND TRANSPARENCY ON ARRESTS FROM OUR PARTNERS WITH THE COUNTY REALLY, REALLY SOON, REALLY SOON.
COUNCIL MEMBER CADRE, AND THEN I'LL ASK.
UM, THE DATA THAT WAS PROVIDED TO, UH, ALL THE INDIVIDUAL COUNCIL MEMBERS AT WAS EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE BEFORE THE PARTNERSHIP, UH, BEFORE THAT PARTNERSHIP, IT LOOKS LIKE DISTRICTS 3, 4, 1, 7, AND NINE HAD THE MOST EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE IN THAT ORDER.
UH, WOULD YOU GUYS BE ABLE TO GET US EMERGENCY CALLS FOR SERVICE DURING THAT FIVE WEEK THAT DPSS WAS ON THE GROUND BY, BY DISTRICT? YEAH, WE'VE PUT THE INFORMATION TOGETHER.
UM, THOSE THINGS THAT WERE CIRCULATED TO COUNSEL WERE THE INITIAL BACKGROUND.
UH, WE'VE PULLED TOGETHER THE INFORMATION SINCE THE DEPLOYMENT, RIGHT? SO WE'LL BE PUTTING THAT TOGETHER, ADDING THAT IN, AND MAKING THAT AVAILABLE TO COUNCIL VERY SOON.
UM, I WANNA ALSO THANK THE COUNCIL.
I WANNA THANK THE COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT ARE HERE, UH, THAT AREN'T PART OF THE COMMITTEE.
I, IT'S PART OF WHAT WE HAD HOPED WOULD HAPPEN, AND, AND I APPRECIATE THEM BEING HERE.
I WANNA ALSO NOTE THAT, UH, COUNCIL MEMBER ALLISON AL ALTER HAS JOINED US VIRTUALLY, UH, ALTHOUGH SHE'S, UH, APPARENTLY HAVING SOME AUDIO DIFFICULTIES, BUT I WANT RECOGNIZE THAT, THAT SHE'S HERE.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? ANYTHING ELSE Y'ALL WANT TO ADD BEFORE WE GO TO PUBLIC? COMMENT? WE COOL.
UH, THEN WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO, MEMBERS, IS WE WILL GO TO
[Public Communication: General ]
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS AND THEN, UH, THOSE WHO HAVE SIGNED UP ON ITEM NUMBER TWO, WHICH IS THE BRIEFING DISCUSSION ITEM.THANK YOU MR. MAYOR FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.
WE'LL START WITH, UH, PEOPLE THAT ARE REMOTE.
UH, STARTING OFF WITH, UH, VINCE KOBAS, PLEASE UNMUTE YOUR MIC.
I'M A PAST CHAIR OF THE ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY OF LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION, AND CURRENTLY THE PRESIDENT-ELECT FOR THE NETWORK OF ASIAN AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS.
TODAY, HOWEVER, I'M NOW REPRESENTING EITHER ORGANIZATION, JUST MYSELF.
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HISTORY, ASIAN AMERICANS HAVE BEEN REGULARLY SCAPEGOATED DURING PERIODS OF NATIONAL DISTRESS IN WORLD WAR II, FORCED INTERNMENT OF ABOUT 120,000 JAPANESE AMERICANS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE.AND MORE RECENTLY, THE COVID PANDEMIC WITH CHINA IN THE SPOTLIGHT, BUT IT ALSO POSED A THREAT TO ALL ASIAN AMERICAN COM COMMUNITIES.
SO NOW IS A CRITICAL MOMENT FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN TO RECOGNIZE THE HISTORY OF ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE IN THE COUNTRY, AND REALIZE HOW IT'S CONNECTED TO THE MA MISTREATMENT OF OTHER ETHNIC MINORITIES.
THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY DOES NOT FEEL SAFE AS UNDERLYING TENSIONS CONTINUE TO GROW.
I KNOW THIS IS NOT SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE SUBJECT TODAY, BUT, UH, IT'S A CONTINUING ISSUE IN THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY.
UH, IN RECENT YEARS, THERE WAS AN ASIAN COMMUNITY LIAISON WHO COULD BUILD TRUST WITH THE A A A P I COMMUNITY, AND ALSO, UH, HELP THE AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT UNDERSTAND THE GROWING CONCERNS IN THE COMMUNITY.
THIS AWARENESS CAN HELP PREVENT ASIAN HATE FROM ESCALATING.
UH, AND I'D LIKE TO SUPPORT REESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY LIAISON POSITION AT A P D FOCUSED ON THE A P I, ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER COMMUNITY.
SUM, SUBMIT THE
WE'LL START WITH IN PERSON PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.
I WAS GONNA SPEAK ABOUT SOMETHING, BUT I WAS KIND OF SHOCKED TO SEE THAT MY DISTRICT FOUR IS, HAS A LOT OF CRIME AREA AND I HAVE AN AGENDA TO SPEAK TO.
UH, BUT I'M REQUESTING TO HAVE A FACE-TO-FACE, UH, CONVERSATION WITH POLICE CHIEF JOSEPH CHAK, OR THE CITY MANAGER.
EVERYBODY KNOWS WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH, BUT ANYWAY, THIS IS NOT THE AGENDA FOR ME TO SPEAK ABOUT WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH, EVEN THOUGH PRETTY SURE HE CAN, HE CAN ADMIT THAT I'M TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT WHO'S, UH, BEEN HARASSED.