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Austin PD may go under Texas DPS.

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By atomheartbevo
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Texas’ governor tweeted Thursday that he was looking at a strategy that would stop major city officials’ efforts to shift resources away from police departments and into other social services. 

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The potential legislation, sent last week to Abbott by former Texas House Representatives and parliamentarians Terry Keel and Ron Wilson, would allow for a city with a population over 1 million and less than two police officers per 1,000 residents — a bucket Austin falls into — to have its police force consolidated with the Texas Department of Public Safety. The state’s law enforcement branch would take over the local police department and form a new entity if the governor decided there were “insufficient municipal resources being appropriated for public safety needs,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Texas Tribune.

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The director of DPS would control operations of the new department, and the state’s Public Safety Commission, a five-member board that oversees DPS and is appointed by the governor, would decide its budget, said Keel, who is also a former Travis County sheriff. The money would then be taken from state sales revenue taxes usually sent to the city.

“That letter basically is a roadmap to how the Legislature can address the problem in Austin,” Keel told the Tribune last week. “Because Austin opened the door to the Legislature doing that, by defunding the police and by creating a public safety crisis.”

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The 2021 Austin budget would immediately cut from the department approximately $20 million that will be redirected to fund areas like violence prevention, food access and abortion access programs. About $130 million was put into two transitional funds that will allow several of the department’s traditional duties to remain funded while officials work out which responsibilities to keep under law enforcement and which to move out from under police oversight.

Nice that it was deliberately created and defined in such a way to target Austin.

Oh, and it was written by a former Travis County sheriff.

I expected this kind of shit from the fucking aggy Ricky Bobby, not from a Longhorn.

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Captainant

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1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

Well, they could include the Wilco Sheriff’s Department if they are taking drastic measures.

Well this is about RESPECTING their police departments, not actual good policing. So that's why wilco wasn't addressed. 

Their brutality against the citizens is a feature, not a bug. And Austin is going the wrong direction apparently

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freyguy

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So much for everything they taught me in social studies class.  But I do remember Texas govt class saying our state constitution is all kinds of f'd up.

Got a friend that works as a paramedic in Austin who is actually pleased about the prospect of reallocation of funds.  They would finally get some of the things they've been needing for years.  New gear, upgrades, etc...

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atomheartbevo

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Few things:

1. Hey, we aren't Williamson County!

2. So what if the legislature actually did this - does this mean APD would be held to a higher standard?

3. So when my neighbor's bipolar son goes off his meds again and is fucking around in the street, the state will be handling it.  That's going to be lovely.

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36 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

Move this thread to cr please. 

No, this is a current event that directly affects all of us in Austin.  This isn't some fucking esoteric policy change that only policy wonks will even know is happening.

28 minutes ago, SquishMitten said:

Need to rename the thread. “State Government takes over local Austin PD (no politics, please)”

@blacklab Could you change the thread title.

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atomheartbevo

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This gem was in the article

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Violent crime did drop in the areas of Dallas where they were deployed, but some city officials said they were still doing more harm than good. They said an "overwhelming" number of residents complained that the troopers were over-policing neighborhoods, questioning people about their immigration status and stopping people for soon-to-expire, but still valid, inspection stickers.

 

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1 minute ago, futureman said:

well if you have nothing to hide I’m struggling to see what you find concerning about it. 

It doesn't matter right now - inspections/registrations are still under waiver as of September 1st, so they can't do shit while half of the state drives around expired.

Once things are back to normal, I can just see them spending way too much time on it though.  I guess that's better than shitty speed traps.

 

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futureman

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1 minute ago, atomheartbevo said:

It doesn't matter right now - inspections/registrations are still under waiver as of September 1st, so they can't do shit while half of the state drives around expired.

Once things are back to normal, I can just see them spending way too much time on it though.  I guess that's better than shitty speed traps.

 

I was kidding anyway. 

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atomheartbevo

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1 minute ago, futureman said:

I was kidding anyway. 

I'm just pondering whether policing will be better or worse with the state controlling city law enforcement.  

And I'm amused at the thought that our police will be focused on vehicle registration/inspection (and speed traps, but hopefully not shitty ones).

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Just now, texhorn said:

Didn’t Abbott just cut DPS’ budget back? Oh, the irony.

And he also said a few years ago that the forensics lab should be moved out from under APD - back when everybody associated with the lab was fired because the lab was a fucking disaster. 

And the budget shuffling does just that - in fact, I think the forensics lab stuff will be one of the biggest chunks of the budget moved out of APD.  I never understood why APD was allowed to restart the lab, and why it wasn't put outside of their control after the 2016-2017 fiasco.

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bolverk

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1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

Hey y'all.  Just remember, the GOP is in favor of decentralized government.

 

 

1 hour ago, Fondren & Main said:

This is a ridiculous statement...hey dude, just remember the Dems are for murder in Portland...come on dude.  So fucking lazy.

The highest ranking official of one of the two major parties within this state is proposing legislation whereby the State would take over the law enforcement activities within a locality. The party to which that official belongs espouses local control as one of its core beliefs. Yeah, Gil Bang put a label to that party and called out the obvious hypocrisy.

You, on the other hand, respond with an affirmative statement that the other party is in favor of murder. Name a single official of that other party who has ever stated, "I am for murder in Portland." Defend that statement or be proven a liar.

This does belong in the CR, but you've demonstrated a willingness to exchange partisan ideas and bias outside of it now. So, I fully expect that you'll be willing to discuss your statement with evidence in the appropriate place when this thread is relocated. If not, I can only assume that you are a full-of-shit coward.

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Gil Bang

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Apologies all around.   This topic is 100% political, and I didn't realize it was on DT board.   My response was obviously political in nature, and I cannot imagine anybody responding to this post with a response that is not political in nature. 

Delete thread, ban user. 

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Updawg

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And he also said a few years ago that the forensics lab should be moved out from under APD - back when everybody associated with the lab was fired because the lab was a fucking disaster. 
And the budget shuffling does just that - in fact, I think the forensics lab stuff will be one of the biggest chunks of the budget moved out of APD.  I never understood why APD was allowed to restart the lab, and why it wasn't put outside of their control after the 2016-2017 fiasco.

Exactly. This is just politics and dan Patrick.

Only real concern is the lack of new police recruits in training
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bolverk

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3 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Apologies all around.   This topic is 100% political, and I didn't realize it was on DT board.   My response was obviously political in nature, and I cannot imagine anybody responding to this post with a response that is not political in nature. 

Delete thread, ban user. 

It's very much "newsworthy" for those of us living in Austin. So, by that measure, it's DT material. That said, the motivations for this event are entirely "political." I don't know how you categorize it, but the discussion will be inherently political because of those motivations with partisans lining themselves up behind their "teams" regardless of supposed political values and deeply held beliefs.

It's a befuddling quandary.

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atomheartbevo

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1 minute ago, Updawg said:

Only real concern is the lack of new police recruits in training

AFAIK, once they revamp whatever training they are revamping, they will start training cadets again.

It was shit to do that to the incoming classes, since quite a few them had given up jobs, been working towards it, etc. and it screwed with their lives, and probably turned them off to coming here, but we can also find plenty of reasons why the training needed to be revamped.

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atomheartbevo

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1 minute ago, bolverk said:

It's very much "newsworthy" for those of us living in Austin. So, by that measure, it's DT material. That said, the motivations for this event are entirely "political." I don't know how you categorize it,

People can go discuss the parties in CR, and leave the actual logistics and the impact it will have on us Austinites here in DT.

 

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bolverk

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Just now, atomheartbevo said:

People can go discuss the parties in CR, and leave the actual logistics and the impact it will have on us Austinites here in DT.

That's probably fair. As to the logistics/impact angle, APD's announcement in July that they will no longer cite or arrest people for possessing small amounts of marijuana would be in danger with this move.

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atomheartbevo

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3 minutes ago, JohnnyRage said:

I guess his efforts to freeze property taxes of cities that ever lower their police budget must be having some troubles.

Governor can't technically do a lot of things until the legislature is back in session next year.

And there's plenty of cities who probably saw a decline in taxes elsewhere thanks to covid.

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