Categories: Central TexasNewsTexas

Austin Tops List In Homicides Of Largest U.S. Cities As Council Defunds APD

"Austin’s murder rate is up 64% this year, and that’s before the Austin City Council took $150 million from police..."

4 years ago

Austin PD Headquarters during George F | Photo by Charles Fair on Unsplash

Chris LeDoux 

According to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, Austin has the highest percent change in total homicides compared to the previous year and last week the Austin City Council took one-third ($150M) from APD’s annual budget

The Council approved a total APD budget of about $290 million – down from the $434 million earmarked in the proposed budget – and directed the City Manager to return to Council no later than March 2021 to amend the public safety budget following public engagement.

PERCENT CHANGE IN TOTAL HOMICIDES
COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEAR

15 LARGEST U.S. CITIES

PERCENT CHANGE IN TOTAL HOMICIDES COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEAR IN 15 LARGEST CITIES | DATA SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL

.
SOME OF THE APD UNITS THAT RECEIVED BUDGET CUTS

  • 911 Call Center – $17.7 million
  • License Plate Readers – $133,000
  • Forensic Sciences – $12.7 million
  • Support Services – $14.1 million 
  • Victims Services – $3.1 million 
  • Internal Affairs – $4.5 million 
  • Special Investigations – $1.8 million 
  • Mounted Patrol – $2.1 million 
  • Traffic Enforcement – $18.4 million 
  • Austin Regional Intelligence Center – $2 million 
  • Park Police – $5.8 million 
  • Lake Patrol – $1.4 million 
  • Organized Crime/K-9 – $1.2 million 
  • Nuisance Abatement – $312,000
  • Canceling 3 Cadet Classes – $2.2 million this year
  • Officer Overtime – $2.8 million 
  • Community Partnerships – $2.5 million 
  • Special Events – $4.4 million 

Friday afternoon, Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton released the following statement

“The unwarranted attack by the Austin mayor and city council on their police department’s budget is no more than a political haymaker driven by the pressures of cancel culture. Unfortunately, the targets of this ‘canceling’ are the brave men and women who selflessly put their lives on the line to keep our families safe.
.
The city council’s action to slash funding disregards the safety of our capital city, its citizens, and the many guests who frequent it. The City of Austin already struggles to combat widespread crime, violence, and homelessness.
.
In light of rising violent crime rates in many cities across the country as well, the majority of Austinites opposing defunding police, the mayor and the city council should immediately reconsider this ill-advised effort at virtue signaling; which will endanger lives and property in Austin.”Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

 

 


— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 15, 2020

View Comments

  • We need to vote all members of the council out as they don't care about the residents' safety. They just care about their jobs. They will never know when themselves and their family members become the victims of violences and crimes. If that happens, the police should not respond to each and every of them. Let them deal with rioters and killers alone. They are serving us by their cold hearted attitude. They need to be out as soon as possible.

  • STOP WITH THE HATE SPEECH !!!

    Our City Council wants safety and protection for EVERYONE !
    That's why our City Council members voted to become a sanctuary city on behalf of Mano Amiga

    So what if a few San Marcos police officers got murdered and shot by illegal aliens here recently.

    You got no idea of what safety is, so get over it, and put your mask back on you bigot.

  • This is very miss leading. Austin still has a very low murder rate, the rate when up, but by using percentages, it sounds high. Think about it, there were only 47 in 2019. 64% is 80.
    There were only 80 homicides. That is very low for a major metropolitan city. (there were 210 in Dallas in 2019.
    This article, and Ken Paxton are using the data to make it look worse than it is. Keep the state out of our City.

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4 years ago

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