(The Center Square) – After the Austin City Council cut funding to its police department, the state’s capital has struggled with recruiting and providing basic services to residents as crime has escalated.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to support an Austin Police Department overwhelmed by a spate of violent crime.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson welcomed the support at a news conference and said he’d had productive conversations with the governor and with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
He said the additional resources would help deal with “unprecedented challenges with staffing levels” at APD.
“This is support and supplement, not override, not overtake. It is a partnership,” he told reporters. “APD is primary, but there’s support and supplement coming from DPS so that we can meet some of the needs that the staffing levels have kept us from being able to meet the way we want.”
In the last legislative session, Abbott and the state legislature took action to penalize cities that defund their police departments, but the damage still hasn’t been undone.
Austin has suffered from a recent spate of violence, with six homicides committed in 10 days and a shooting on the east side of town on Sunday that left multiple people injured.
"In Texas, public safety remains our top priority, and we will do whatever it takes to support the brave men and women in law enforcement who protect our communities," Abbott said in a Monday statement announcing the new crime fighting initiative. "I welcome the opportunity to work with Mayor Watson and city officials to provide the personnel and resources needed to make Austin safer. Texas has always been – and always will be – a law and order state."
DPS will be providing a data-driven violent crime suppression task force composed of troopers, special agents, and intelligence-level policing, the governor’s office said.
APD Chief Joseph Chacon said DPS has “stepped in when crime is up and the local resources essentially are overwhelmed, and I’m extremely grateful for that.”
On Sunday, three people were injured in a shooting at an intersection near Chicano Park; arrests have yet to be reported.
Sgt. Peter Kovach with APD’s homicide unit told KXAN News that the six homicides that occurred in the last 10 days was “an unusual amount of murders for the year that we’re looking at. It’s obviously a concern the city and police are having to take into account.”
In 2022, there were three instances of six homicides occurring in 10 days and another period when eight homicides occurred in 10 days, KXAN News reported. In 2021, there was a 10-day stretch where six homicides occurred and a 10-day stretch where seven homicides occurred.
The governor’s directive comes after he last month created a street takeover task force, calling up Texas DPS to assist APD to respond to gangs and alleged criminals taking over intersections, wreaking havoc and endangering the public in major cities like Austin.
The state legislature is also prioritizing several crime-fighting initiatives this legislative session, including new laws that will impose tougher penalties for fentanyl- and gun-related crimes.
