Austin police’s partnership with state law enforcement draws praise, criticism

The Texas Department of Public Safety’s partnership with the Austin Police Department, which was announced last month to make up for the local agency’s staffing crisis, has drawn polarizing reactions from city council members and the community. 

The Austin City Council will be briefed next week on the agreement and its impact on public safety in the Texas state capital. 

Council member Mackenzie Kelly, a volunteer firefighter and staunch public safety advocate, sent a memo to the interim city manager ahead of that briefing, requesting information on the numbers of arrests, gun seizures, and searches that Texas DPS has been responsible for. 

“I deem it crucial for the community to comprehend the commendable efforts of both APD and DPS in their collaborative initiative,” Kelly wrote in the memo. “Thus, during the briefing, I request that we are informed of specific instances of such work.”

Adam Loewy, a personal injury attorney in Austin, represents clients who have dealt with Austin’s short-staffed police department firsthand. 

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Last month, Lacey Purciful was driving with her husband and two children when a suspected drunk driver cut across two lanes of traffic and slammed into them head-on. The family called 911 five times, but it took two-and-a-half hours for an officer to show up, at which point the driver had sobered up and was able to avoid charges. 

“I think the partnership was long overdue and is paying immediate dividends. I used to regularly hear from clients about APD not showing up to car crashes for hours – including most notably in the Purciful case. This was due to the staffing shortage,” Loewy told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

“That has changed once DPS started patrols. There are now close to enough law enforcement personnel to respond to calls and enforce the laws.”

Mayor Kirk Watson said on March 27 that state troopers and DPS special agents would focus on traffic stops and combating violent crime. The partnership has yielded 300 traffic stops and 16 arrests per day so far, according to the Austin American-Statesman. 

While the additional law enforcement presence has been welcomed by many, other city officials have criticized the secretive way that it was negotiated. 

“Austinties deserve accountability and transparency,” Council member Vanessa Fuentes tweeted this week. “There’s no use in setting high standards for local officers if they can easily be bypassed with an increased presence of State Troopers. They must, at least, adhere to the same rules and standards as their local counterparts.”

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Council member Zo Qadri accused state police of showing “a lack of accountability, transparency and concern.”

“DPS has no business patrolling Austin and making so many of our communities feel unsafe,” Qadri tweeted. 

Austin police’s staffing crisis stretches back years, but the problem was exacerbated by the city council’s decision to cut the department’s budget by about a third in August 2020. That funding was restored the next year, but multiple cadet classes had already been canceled and officers left in droves. 

City officials have collaborated with police on retention strategies, including a 4% raise across the board and $15,000 bonus for new recruits that was announced last month.

“We’ve moved quickly to address staffing issues – recruit new officers, retain experienced officers, and staff up in our 9-1-1 call centers,” interim city manager Jesús Garza said month. “But those efforts take time, and we can’t wait to make sure Austinites feel safe.” 

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.