Thank you from Council Member Ora Houston

Dear Chief,

On the morning of April 11th at 6:00a., I rolled up to the sub-station that covers most of District #1. Sergeant Robin Orten, #2186 met me; introduced me to officers who had finished their tour of duty; went over the paper work with me; explained the over lapping shift schedules; shared what a Sergeant does; the chain of command; his love for his job, patrol and Charlie Sector; and introduced me to Officer Adam Myatt, #6471.

At that point, Officer Myatt, took control of my “day in the life of a patrol officer ‘ride out’”. Things could not have been more interesting, from a very slow start to me praying in the car on IH35, for Officer Myatt and the officer in the second unit, as they risked their lives to assist an 18 wheeler that was stopped in the middle of where the upper and lower decks converge. Did I mention that this was done in the rain?? They had to stop northbound traffic on the upper deck twice. Once to allow the driver to get back to his rig and then to allow him to get back on the road. I was surprised by how many truckers and cars don’t follow the law regarding what is to be done when lights are flashing. Several times I wanted to call ahead and tell someone to stop and issue a ticket for those that flew by us above the speed limit.

A variety of calls: took the shield to Manor (the Lt. actually lived in District #1); a son abusing his mom (off meds he was dropped off at Brack); a domestic abuse allegation (both had visible bruises, she had more; he got to go jail); tow truck removed a car in an apartment complex; man slumped over and horn blowing in the parking lot of a multi-family development (no man, horn was blowing, lots of resources, AFD disconnected the horn); and we ate…not in the car. That gave us time to talk about some of the issues that officers deal with every minute they are on duty.

Thank you so much for allowing members of the Citizen Police Academy to get up close and personal with our peace officers. Please thank Sergeant Orten and Officer Myatt for allowing me to be in their space, they both are to be commended. I am probably not an easy ‘ride out’ because everyone ‘knows my name’.  

One more thing, the seats in the cruisers are awful.  ; - >

‘Austin the Friendly City’
Ora Houston
District #1
Austin City Council

 

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