Austin Residents Shocked That Defunding The Police Has Consequences
The failure to staff law enforcement and its correlation to rising crime – or how’s that working out for you?
In 2020, with great fanfare, the Austin city council voted unanimously to cut approximately 150 million dollars, or 34 percent, of its budget in the wake of the Black Lives Matter riots. Now, the citizens of Austin, many of whom voted for these city council members, are up in arms about the shortage of officers and emergency response times.
In February, part of the city was left without a single officer in service, and according to the Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock, the city is on the “brink of disaster.”
The Texas State Legislature convened the following year and passed legislation that forced the city to reinstate the funding, but the damage was already done. Austin is in the middle of a full-blown staffing crisis, which will take years to undo, if at all. Experienced officers generally don’t want to work in a blue city, and police recruits can take up to a year from application to going into service.
In an interview with FOX News, Bullock stated,
“Previous councils and leadership have actively worked against our officers and department, which has now put us in a free-falling staffing crisis,” Bullock warned. “Twice now we’ve had our contract voted down or it has been allowed to expire. Each year since 2017, we’ve lost more officers than we’ve hired. We had to gut our specialized units and force detectives to work backfill on patrol just to try and respond to 911 calls.” As a result, Bullock continued, “our staffing has been set back at least 15 years and at the same time we’ve dealt with a population growth of over 250,000 new residents. Combine that with a district attorney who has made it very clear that targeting officers and releasing criminals is his priority – not public safety.”
Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Joe Gamaldi said council members who voted to defund the police don’t “give a damn about the people in Austin.”
“What the Austin city council did was horrific to the community,” he told Fox News Digital.” There is no one left to fill these shortages because the city council treats officers like scum. Now, responses are over 10 minutes for emergency calls. Some districts are left without staff. The city council should learn their lesson over violent crime. 2021 was the highest ever for recorded murders and, since then, the murder rate continues to stay close to that high and looks like 2024 will not be any better. People are dying over bad decisions.”
City Council member Greg Casar went to Twitter when the vote passed. Casar is now a U.S. Congressman and, according to Bullock, has requested extra police presence at his Austin area home.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We did it!! Austin City Council just reduced APD's budget by over $100 million *and* reinvested resources into our community's safety and well-being. Tens of thousands of you have called, emailed, and testified. You made the impossible into a reality. <a href="
13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Longtime Austin resident Lauren Klinefelter told Fox News Digital she was unable to get help following a 2022 car accident involving her young children.
“We needed an ambulance and some emergency assistance because not only was my car totaled, but my children were both bleeding and visibly injured,” she said, adding her kids were only eight and two years old at the time. “I called 911 and, to my surprise, it rang endlessly, only to be routed to a 311 operator for non-emergencies.”
Klinefelter ultimately had to take a Lyft to the hospital after being unable to obtain help.
“My children were bleeding, and over an hour had passed, so with no other option, we got a Lyft to the hospital and back home. The police never showed up, I was never contacted by anyone to follow up on the incident.”
Now that the defecation has hit the oscillation, City officials are in CYA mode, a city spokesperson told Fox News Digital,
“The need for additional resources for APD remains a top priority, and the Interim City Manager will be assessing what options are available to the city,” the spokesperson said, adding: “The Austin City Council has provided additional support to APD by authorizing significant investments for staffing and specifically retention bonuses as well as approving additional resources related to cadet classes.”
With a wide-open border, the officer shortage could not come at a worse time and will create chaos until it's repaired, which might never occur. Elections have consequences, folks.
Another great article. Austin is a great city but the citizens deserve the consequences of who they vote in. Hopefully Garza is heading for the unemployment line.
Well written! And you are absolutely correct in that as we're experiencing increased challenges that include a border crisis, the blue line has been severely tattered. It's not a good place to be.