What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?

[ztejas 43244]

Stuff like that makes me want to conceal carry or keep a gun in my car.

[crash_davis 23078]

My daughter has had a few run ins with homeless around UT. I posted this on the previous site. After water polo practice one night on her way to the parking garage, she was chased by 2 homeless dudes on Speedway. Wife and I fielded her call after she got to her car. She was hysterical in how afraid she was. This is just a couple of years after the poor Freshman was raped and killed by the homeless guy.

She's been harassed and followed by homeless dudes walking around West Campus. There was a homeless camp set up in the alley right behind their sorority house. Their cars were repeatedly broken into. The sorority girls there felt unsafe as fuck. I emailed the City and UT about it but nothing happened until the property owners building a new condo drove out the homeless camp.

Yea, I know there are some people on here who feel sorry for the homeless but fuck them. I'll support any homeless who are actively trying to help themselves. But most of the assholes causing issues are not trying to get out of their situation. Fuck those assholes.

[Brisketexan 104462]

At this point, the complete lack of enforcement action by APD (what ARE they doing with their time, exactly?) is purposeful.  And the reason for it is simple, but it's not what some of you might think it is.  It's not because the City Council has directed them not to arrest people for violent crimes.  It's not because we have a shitty DA (and we do have a shitty DA).  It's the strategy of an abuser.

The police are pissed off about being called out on their bullshit -- abuse of citizens and such.  So, they are functionally going on a strike: they are simply refusing to take action against violent crime.  The goal is to get the population to be frightened and desperate enough to BEG the cops to do their job, and say "we'll give you whatever you want!  Be cops however you want!  Just protect us!"  

It's contemptible and frankly fucking evil.  I don't see a fix.  They are making the choice pretty clear.  You can have bad cops with no limits on their behavior, or you can have no cops at all.  Pretty shitty choices.

[crash_davis 23078]

The revolving door through the city jail doesn't help. Most of these assholes have been arrested multiple times. For every time you see their mugshot on the website, just imagine all the times where APD doesn't respond and they go on wreaking havoc on the city. 

This whole situation is fucked. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by crash_davis

[PvilleStang 2843]

41 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

At this point, the complete lack of enforcement action by APD (what ARE they doing with their time, exactly?) is purposeful.  And the reason for it is simple, but it's not what some of you might think it is.  It's not because the City Council has directed them not to arrest people for violent crimes.  It's not because we have a shitty DA (and we do have a shitty DA).  It's the strategy of an abuser.

The police are pissed off about being called out on their bullshit -- abuse of citizens and such.  So, they are functionally going on a strike: they are simply refusing to take action against violent crime.  The goal is to get the population to be frightened and desperate enough to BEG the cops to do their job, and say "we'll give you whatever you want!  Be cops however you want!  Just protect us!"  

It's contemptible and frankly fucking evil.  I don't see a fix.  They are making the choice pretty clear.  You can have bad cops with no limits on their behavior, or you can have no cops at all.  Pretty shitty choices.

I call BS on this...  I think a huge part of the problem is the cops are afraid to do their jobs.  One misstep, and Garza is dragging their ass through the wringer. There's also no morale around there given the city council has given them the finger numerous times by refusing their contracts.  I put the blame equally on ACC and the DA.

 

I do feel like the 400 open positions have led APD to be lazy and turn a blind eye under the guise of understaffing.  That, along with complete department dismantling (motorcycle unit, DWI enforcement, etc) has led to less and less proactive policing and more reactive. 

[MAUFRAIS 6571]

They got rid of DWIs? Shit. I thought I’d just gotten better at driving drunk.

[PvilleStang 2843]

5 minutes ago, MAUFRAIS said:

They got rid of DWIs? Shit. I thought I’d just gotten better at driving drunk.

[Brisketexan 104462]

31 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

I think a huge part of the problem is the cops are afraid to do their jobs. 

That's absolutely their story.  Let me translate it for you: "we used to be able to beat the shit out of anybody we wanted.  Now we're being held accountable.  We can't do our jobs under such draconian conditions!"  That's not unique to APD.  American policing culture is pushing back, and pushing back hard because they don't like things like "being subject to the law," and "being accountable to the communities they serve."  Instead, we should just give them badges, guns, and clubs, and give them a license to do whatever they want.  And if we don't like it?  Well then, we'll just leave, and you can secure your community yourself!

[ChickenSandwich 9797]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

At this point, the complete lack of enforcement action by APD (what ARE they doing with their time, exactly?) is purposeful.  And the reason for it is simple, but it's not what some of you might think it is.  It's not because the City Council has directed them not to arrest people for violent crimes.  It's not because we have a shitty DA (and we do have a shitty DA).  It's the strategy of an abuser.

The police are pissed off about being called out on their bullshit -- abuse of citizens and such.  So, they are functionally going on a strike: they are simply refusing to take action against violent crime.  The goal is to get the population to be frightened and desperate enough to BEG the cops to do their job, and say "we'll give you whatever you want!  Be cops however you want!  Just protect us!"  

It's contemptible and frankly fucking evil.  I don't see a fix.  They are making the choice pretty clear.  You can have bad cops with no limits on their behavior, or you can have no cops at all.  Pretty shitty choices.

Friend showed me:  a homeless person with 20 arrests from 21-23 in Travis County -  all "prosecution rejects charges” and one or two dismissals (50/50 f/m) 

Now he is in jail with a  new Agg Robbery charge.

20 arrests in two years doesn't seem like lack of enforcement to me, hard to see how APD wouldn't get discouraged in a situation like this

Edited October 5, 2023 by ChickenSandwich

[PvilleStang 2843]

7 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

That's absolutely their story.  Let me translate it for you: "we used to be able to beat the shit out of anybody we wanted.  Now we're being held accountable.  We can't do our jobs under such draconian conditions!"  That's not unique to APD.  American policing culture is pushing back, and pushing back hard because they don't like things like "being subject to the law," and "being accountable to the communities they serve."  Instead, we should just give them badges, guns, and clubs, and give them a license to do whatever they want.  And if we don't like it?  Well then, we'll just leave, and you can secure your community yourself!

There's the other side of the coin.  The Karen / Cancel culture where they blame cops for anything and everything.  Again, doing your job correctly leads to an internal investigation for police brutality because some dumbass thinks they shouldn't have been pulled over for doing 20 over in a school zone.  The inherent lack of respect for authority paired with the customer's always right mindset leads to crap like this. 

 

I know there are lazy / corrupt / bad cops, but I don't believe the entire APD force is conspiring to defraud the city of Austin for political carte blanche to bring about Marshall Law.

[bejezuz 329]

55 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

I call BS on this...  I think a huge part of the problem is the cops are afraid to do their jobs.  One misstep, and Garza is dragging their ass through the wringer. There's also no morale around there given the city council has given them the finger numerous times by refusing their contracts.  I put the blame equally on ACC and the DA.

I have a friend who got fired from the Travis County DA's Office as a prosecutor.  He complained too loudly about Garza's progressive policies, particularly the one about not being able to offer anyone more than 20 years in prison.  He prosecuted child sex crimes, and half of his indicted cases were for continuous sexual abuse of children where the minimum sentence is 25 years.  Getting rid of Margaret Moore for that tool was a huge mistake.  

[ztejas 43244]

35 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

That's absolutely their story.  Let me translate it for you: "we used to be able to beat the shit out of anybody we wanted.  Now we're being held accountable.  We can't do our jobs under such draconian conditions!"  That's not unique to APD.  American policing culture is pushing back, and pushing back hard because they don't like things like "being subject to the law," and "being accountable to the communities they serve."  Instead, we should just give them badges, guns, and clubs, and give them a license to do whatever they want.  And if we don't like it?  Well then, we'll just leave, and you can secure your community yourself!

Since when has APD ever been heavy-handed? I've never gotten the sense that police brutality or abuse of power was a big issue within Travis County. 

They enforced the shit out of some DWIs back in the day - I'll give them that. 

[ztejas 43244]

I guess there was the protest scenario where some people got hit with less than lethal ammo but that seems like more of a one-off and not a pattern of behavior. 

[Brisketexan 104462]

20 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

There's the other side of the coin.  The Karen / Cancel culture where they blame cops for anything and everything.  Again, doing your job correctly leads to an internal investigation for police brutality because some dumbass thinks they shouldn't have been pulled over for doing 20 over in a school zone.  The inherent lack of respect for authority paired with the customer's always right mindset leads to crap like this. 

 

I know there are lazy / corrupt / bad cops, but I don't believe the entire APD force is conspiring to defraud the city of Austin for political carte blanche to bring about Marshall Law.

Yes.

Clearly what minorities have been telling society as a whole for decades, and that we can see in incident after incident after incident (camera phones are a cop's worst enemy)....well, those were lies.  And cops don't abuse citizens.  Bullshit.  I'm a pretty model citizen, from a pretty model family -- honest, hardworking parents, the whole deal.  But I've had a family member get the shit beaten out of him and tossed in jail (and not allowed to contact anyone...he literally had to bribe a jailer to make a call), and I've had a cop flat-out LIE on a citation to me, so GTFO with that bullshit.

Sure, there are citizens who bitch when it's their own damned fault, but decades upon decades of letting cops get away with whatever the fuck they want leads to a culture that sees itself as completely above the law and accountable to nobody.  You don't have to believe that, that doesn't make it any less true.

Cops in this country have made it clear that they want three things: 1) high pay (I don't fault them for that), 2) lots of military toys and tech, and 3) zero accountability or consequences for anything they do.  

Nobody is saying it's not a hard job.  Lots of jobs are hard.  And a lot of jobs are way more dangerous. 

You seem to subscribe to the "there's just a couple of bad apples in law enforcement" theory, and not the "the culture of law enforcement is broken" truth.  It's broken.  It's utterly and completely broken.  That doesn't mean that bad guys are also shitty, and that people complain about cops doing stuff that shouldn't be complained about.  Both things are true.  What the cops are doing in Austin is an open secret.  They're proud of it.

[Brisketexan 104462]

4 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Since when has APD ever been heavy-handed? I've never gotten the sense that police brutality or abuse of power was a big issue within Travis County. 

They enforced the shit out of some DWIs back in the day - I'll give them that. 

Since always.  Many of us didn't experience much of it because we were college types....not the types being targeted.  That said, when you got in their crosshairs, they were HAPPY to bodyslam you, lie on the arrest affidavit, all that shit.  I've seen it both first and secondhand.

And the DWI enforcement was one of their worst things -- if they pulled you over for DWI, you were going to get charged, even if you were sober as a judge.  And if you dared question them, you were going to get ANOTHER charge (for contempt of cop).  If you were NEARBY and questioned what they were doing, you'd get charged with something.  They've been heavy-handed as shit, for a long damned time.  Comfy white Austin didn't experience it as much, so assumed it wasn't a problem.  They were wrong.

[Samson's Wig 3168]

1 hour ago, ztejas said:

Since when has APD ever been heavy-handed? I've never gotten the sense that police brutality or abuse of power was a big issue within Travis County. 

They enforced the shit out of some DWIs back in the day - I'll give them that. 

The dismantling of the DWI unit was a good thing.  What a bunch of bullshit that was, with Constitutional violations happening by the second. 

[texasdago 7550]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Since always.  Many of us didn't experience much of it because we were college types....not the types being targeted.  That said, when you got in their crosshairs, they were HAPPY to bodyslam you, lie on the arrest affidavit, all that shit.  I've seen it both first and secondhand.

Yeah, to be honest... I'm a white dude.  How would I see it other than some random a-hole officer?

But I just don't understand how the homeless problem is just stagnant.  Watson hasn't done anything.  Like, seriously, what is he doing?  At least Adler was in the public eye.  Watson just napping?

[Native Horn 3484]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Since always.  Many of us didn't experience much of it because we were college types....not the types being targeted.  That said, when you got in their crosshairs, they were HAPPY to bodyslam you, lie on the arrest affidavit, all that shit.  I've seen it both first and secondhand.

And the DWI enforcement was one of their worst things -- if they pulled you over for DWI, you were going to get charged, even if you were sober as a judge.  And if you dared question them, you were going to get ANOTHER charge (for contempt of cop).  If you were NEARBY and questioned what they were doing, you'd get charged with something.  They've been heavy-handed as shit, for a long damned time.  Comfy white Austin didn't experience it as much, so assumed it wasn't a problem.  They were wrong.

I served on a Travis Co DWI jury trial last week.  Defendant found not guilty due to lack of evidence (didn't collect breath or blood, even though defendant said he would offer them - field sobriety tests seemed OK according to video).  After trial was over, I did some research on the defendant.  It appears that 18 days after his DWI stop in Austin (this was in 2021), he had another incident in his hometown (not near Austin) where he was driving drunk and two of his passengers died.  Furk.  Hated to see that, but the jury I was on still made the right call in his Travis Co case.

[Brisketexan 104462]

12 minutes ago, Native Horn said:

I served on a Travis Co DWI jury trial last week.  Defendant found not guilty due to lack of evidence (didn't collect breath or blood, even though defendant said he would offer them - field sobriety tests seemed OK according to video).  After trial was over, I did some research on the defendant.  It appears that 18 days after his DWI stop in Austin (this was in 2021), he had another incident in his hometown (not near Austin) where he was driving drunk and two of his passengers died.  Furk.  Hated to see that, but the jury I was on still made the right call in his Travis Co case.

That's one of the under-considered pieces of fallout from police work that has contempt for the law, evidence, and due process: they do shitty policing when it comes to guilty people as well as innocent people, so guilty people end up going free.

When the cops' approach to matters is "fuck it, he's guilty because we SAY he's guilty," that's a recipe for any jury worth its salt saying "I mean....maybe not?"

Bad policing hurts EVERYONE.  It hurts the "law and order!" types as much as it hurts the hardcore civil libertarians.

[tx 3 putt 76158]

On 9/1/2023 at 8:18 PM, Dbeasy said:

 

I’m extremely frustrated. We are spending enormous sums of money but implementing solutions in extremely dumb ways. 

For some of you my view on this topic may be unpopular.  It’s probably because, as I’ve written on here before, I moved back to Austin a few years ago, only to discover the largest and most dangerous homeless city in Austin had formed behind my childhood house. I’m fed up.

We need to use good carrots and sticks. Provide great mental health, financial and drug treatment services in a structured well organized process.  Save as many people as possible. Those that don’t want to be saved or can’t change their behavior, throw them in jail or a mental health facility long enough and over and over until they either change or leave the city. 

Homeless people don’t give a fuck about rehab and mental health service. They want a card with money on it so they can buy a 40 or two and trade the rest for drugs 

Edited October 5, 2023 by tx 3 putt

[MissingInAction 24765]

Ever since DPS bulldozed the parasites near my home crime has gone down significantly. It's not a coincidence. 

It's been months since the last incident here which used to happen weekly 

Fuck those cockroaches. Send them to labor camps. 

[hayden_horn 11360]

5 hours ago, ztejas said:

Since when has APD ever been heavy-handed? I've never gotten the sense that police brutality or abuse of power was a big issue within Travis County. 

They enforced the shit out of some DWIs back in the day - I'll give them that. 

lolwut

i was in the police instigated mardi gras riot two+ decades ago.

apd has always been thugs. always

and that dwi task force shamelessly and gleefully ruined more lives in the name of overtime wages..fuck em all. for several years the highest paid apd officer was dwi task force. fuck him too. 

[Deej 76510]

3 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

lolwut

i was in the police instigated mardi gras riot two+ decades ago.

apd has always been thugs. always

and that dwi task force shamelessly and gleefully ruined more lives in the name of overtime wages..fuck em all. for several years the highest paid apd officer was dwi task force. fuck him too. 

Call Art.

 

 

[bolverk 29359]

25 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

lolwut

i was in the police instigated mardi gras riot two+ decades ago.

apd has always been thugs. always

and that dwi task force shamelessly and gleefully ruined more lives in the name of overtime wages..fuck em all. for several years the highest paid apd officer was dwi task force. fuck him too. 

Hey, look on the bright side! At least you weren't raped. You could've been a young female jogger in West Campus and have been violently accosted by four APD cops for jaywalking. 

Or, instead, you could've been a deaf woman and been arrested for resisting arrest for not hearing a cop when he thought your sign language looked suspect.

Or, you could've been a kid who suffered brain damage after being shot in the head for being a bystander at a protest.

[Steel Shank 9405]

Back on the 80s, I watched an APD officer cold cock a hand-cuffed 15 year old buddy of mine. 

Austin Police being assholes ain't nothing recent.

 

[totallynotabuttpirate 5341]

There needs to be a got dang law about having churches that provide homeless services near a school or university. It's fucking ridiculous to have them all around 30k young women. A few weeks ago one of them was in the women's restroom at Dirty Sanchez telling them how they were pretty. The church is like 25ft from the school and has weekly meals where 30-40 of them gather and then some walk around the UT buildings, just fucking insane. 

[hornian 5201]

8 minutes ago, totallynotabuttpirate said:

There needs to be a got dang law about having churches that provide homeless services near a school or university. It's fucking ridiculous to have them all around 30k young women. A few weeks ago one of them was in the women's restroom at Dirty Sanchez telling them how they were pretty. The church is like 25ft from the school and has weekly meals where 30-40 of them gather and then some walk around the UT buildings, just fucking insane. 

So you’re upset about a Christian church feeding the homeless? When was the last time you read about our lord and savior Jesus Christ?

[hayden_horn 11360]

don't get me fucking started on the ingress and egress of the fucking "international" airport. who the fuck is in charge of moving traffic through there? fuck you too 

[totallynotabuttpirate 5341]

28 minutes ago, hornian said:

So you’re upset about a Christian church feeding the homeless? When was the last time you read about our lord and savior Jesus Christ?

Yea the church can fucking move and feed the homeless just the same. 
 

“Hey everyone let’s bring older homeless men who are almost all mentally ill around a bunch of 18-22 year-old women on their own for the first time. Let’s also schedule events every week to make sure they get plenty of face time with the young women. “

Sounds like a great idea with no downsides.

Edited October 6, 2023 by totallynotabuttpirate

[Bozo_Casanova 26232]

41 minutes ago, totallynotabuttpirate said:

There needs to be a got dang law about having churches that provide homeless services near a school or university. It's fucking ridiculous to have them all around 30k young women. A few weeks ago one of them was in the women's restroom at Dirty Sanchez telling them how they were pretty. The church is like 25ft from the school and has weekly meals where 30-40 of them gather and then some walk around the UT buildings, just fucking insane. 

You sound easily frightened. Are you a Millennial? You couldn’t have survived the 80’s-90’s.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Bozo_Casanova

[totallynotabuttpirate 5341]

20 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

You sound easily frightened. Are you a Millennial? You couldn’t have survived the 80’s-90’s.

I sound like someone who works with and cares about some female students and has to hear their weekly stories of harassment and the lengths they go to avoid them. 
 

But yea, I’m also a huge pussy. 

Edited October 6, 2023 by totallynotabuttpirate

[Chopper 17126]

8 hours ago, Samson's Wig said:

The dismantling of the DWI unit was a good thing.  What a bunch of bullshit that was, with Constitutional violations happening by the second. 

Agreed. I lived 25+ years in Austin. Giving police incentives to arrest people for dui -- and probably for most things if not all -- is not a good plan. Now I'm in Fort Collins and even the cops here abuse the system. They fired the dui team chief only after he stacked case after case of arrests for dui with no evidence. Even once everyone knew the guy was bent, it took over a year to get him off the police force because they had his back right up until the political heat got too strong.

 

[Bolero88 255]

18 hours ago, ztejas said:

I guess there was the protest scenario where some people got hit with less than lethal ammo but that seems like more of a one-off and not a pattern of behavior. 

They were fucking terrible at those protests. Just inconceivably violent and regarded. Fuck APD, I can't believe there are people defending those asshats. They have sucked my entire life!

[Deej 76510]

10 hours ago, totallynotabuttpirate said:

“Hey everyone let’s bring older homeless men who are almost all mentally ill around a bunch of 18-22 year-old women on their own for the first time. Let’s also schedule events every week to make sure they get plenty of face time with the young women. “

Wasn't that the goal of the Surly tailgates?

[Foosters 17691]

[DaggerHorns 3057]

On 10/5/2023 at 11:29 AM, crash_davis said:

 

This guy is at the library next to Steck and Burnet road as we speak. Best of luck and hope he doesn’t get another one.

[BrickHorn 18176]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:33 AM, Brisketexan said:

Anything else on this?  Would think the NextDoor Karens would have solved it by now.

Latest rumors I heard: the victim was alive when the fire department arrived; accelerant was detected on the scene; there was a knife near the body but no sign of trauma; the cops suspect the perpetrator knew the victim and picked the neighborhood at random; and the victim was last seen by her family the day before and, at that time, was going to get her phone fixed at the Apple Store. 

That’s all 3rd or 4th hand, so apply generous salt. 

[Brisketexan 104462]

1 minute ago, BrickHorn said:

Latest rumors I heard: the victim was alive when the fire department arrived; accelerant was detected on the scene; there was a knife near the body but no sign of trauma; the cops suspect the perpetrator knew the victim and picked the neighborhood at random; and the victim was last seen by her family the day before and, at that time, was going to get her phone fixed at the Apple Store. 

That’s all 3rd or 4th hand, so apply generous salt. 

KXAN reported the same, and they are generally better about not posting rumors, so that's likely from APD.

Wow.

[BrickHorn 18176]

3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

KXAN reported the same,

Well that solves the mystery of where my inside source got their super secret info.

But I can say that cops are still knocking on doors in that area, looking for any surveillance footage.

Edited October 6, 2023 by BrickHorn

[Brisketexan 104462]

5 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

Well that solves the mystery of where my inside source got their super secret info.

But I can say that cops are still knocking on doors in that area, looking for any surveillance footage.

I can't find anything about her online, either.  Granted, I'm not an expert creeper nor am I taking a lot of time.  Just odd, all the way around.

[ChickenSandwich 9797]

 

[Biff Tannen 45477]

WTF.  What was the protest for?  And nice "this is the end" sign guy.

[Samson's Wig 3168]

Who in the hell are those idiots protesting?  I recognize the idiots in uniform.

[bschoolprof 6232]

That's George Floyd era.  Everyone is in a mask and there's a sign with George Floyd.  

[Biff Tannen 45477]

2 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

That's George Floyd era.  Everyone is in a mask and there's a sign with George Floyd.  

Masks should have given it away also.

[texasdago 7550]

I notice that Twitter account doesn't bother noting that was three years ago.  Of course.

[Bolero88 255]

18 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

 

So, why are you posting this now when it happened years ago?

[ChickenSandwich 9797]

Was posted 10/7/23, didn’t see anyone holding a calendar in the video. 

[texasdago 7550]

28 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Was posted 10/7/23, didn’t see anyone holding a calendar in the video. 

Right... the dude is posting it with the insinuation it is current.  All you have to do is watch it and realize that it is three years old.  How do I know?  a) everyone is masked b) hmmm... seen any other new sources reporting this protest on the grounds of the Texas capitol... c) George Floyd poster towards the end of the video and another one with a Covid-19 poster shortly after.  

Guy did not post with good intentions.  

Account is following zero people.  Has 4000+ followers.  All posts are about Austin and all videos are posted without any context.  But hey... dude is on X so I'm sure he's just providing a public service.   

Edited October 10, 2023 by texasdago

[utee94 15742]

What the fuck is wrong with you, Twitter??