Analysis of APD Racial Profiling Data Released

The Office of Police Oversight (OPO), Equity Office, and Office of Innovation released a report that examined Austin Police Department (APD) motor vehicle stop data from 2015-2019 to understand how various racial/ethnic groups in Austin experience motor vehicle stops. 

The report concluded that between 2015 and 2019, racial disparities persisted and, in many cases, grew worse.  

This report offered recommendations to address areas where disproportionality exists and to improve data collection. The full report is available on the OPO website.

 

Racial Disparity Dashboard Published

At the November 16 City Council Public Safety Committee, representatives from the Offices of  Performance Management, Police Oversight, Innovation, and Equity along with the Police Department, introduced the traffic stop racial disparity dashboard. The tool allows the public to review data released in the latest disparity study on traffic stops. The dashboard, which also allows citizens to plug in their zip code to learn about stops in their neighborhood, is included in City’s Strategic Performance Dashboard.

 

City-Community Reimagining Public Safety Task Force Update 

City-Community Reimagining Public Safety Task Force met on November 5. Task force members discussed finalizing working groups and received briefings about Reimagining 911 from Chief Innovation Officer Kerry O'Connor, and progress on the Mental Health Diversion Initiative from Assistant City Manager for Public Safety Rey Arellano, who also serves on the Task Force.

The next Task Force meeting is set for Wednesday, December 9, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.  The virtual meeting will be hosted on Zoom and live-streamed on Facebook. Spanish interpretation will be provided. Details on how to attend or view the meeting are available on the Task Force web page, along with the full list of task force members, agendas, and meeting summaries.
 

RPS Community Outreach

Council Districts 4, 8, and 9 hosted community conversations in partnership with the Communication and Public Information Office’s (CPIO) RPS communications team. Council District and City wide community conversations will resume in January. Confirmed dates include:

  • District 1 - January 7, 2021 5 p.m.
  • District 3 - January 13, 2021 5:30 p.m.
  • Citywide Session 1 - January 20, 2021 5:30 p.m. 
  • Citywide Session 2 - January 28, 2021 5:30 p.m.

Those who wish to attend the Community Conversations can RSVP on the Share Input page of the RPS website.
Sessions for Districts 2,5,6,7 were conducted in September and October.

 

Community Partner Hosted Conversations

The RPS Community Engagement team has reached out to more than more than 75 community organizations and more than 150 neighborhood associations, inviting them to host their own RPS feedback sessions using the City’s RPS Community Conversation Kit. To date, nine groups have either already held or confirmed dates to host RPS Community Conversations, with another 20 expressing interest in hosting sessions in December or January. Austin Justice Coalition, Indian American Coalition of Texas (IACT), Austin Community College Office of Equity & Inclusion, United Way / Travis County Success By 6 Coalition are among the confirmed host organizations.

Community partner hosted conversations are expected to conclude January 31, 2021.

There are several additional ways for the community to share their thoughts and ideas about Reimagining Public Safety with the City including:

·    The listening session for one in English and The listening session for one in Spanish*
·    Public safety reform idea forum in English and Public safety reform idea forum in Spanish
·    Police reform short survey in English  and Police reform short survey in Spanish
·    Calling Austin 3-1-1

*Feedback resources are also available in Arabic, Burmese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese,
Korean, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

 

View more updates on each reform's page, under "Status"