Tag: Police Reform

Austin Police Department Reimagining Public Safety – Phase-B

NOTE: There are a total of 3 related postings on Futureofpolicing that pertain to Austin Texas’ efforts for Public Safety Reimaging
The City of Austin released the second part (Phase B) of an independent analysis studying the impact of racism, discrimination, bigotry, and bias on Austin Police Department (APD) culture, policies, and practices.

The 14-month review conducted by Kroll Associates (Kroll), centered on three priority areas:

  • Use of force: Analyzing four years of use of force incident data.
  • Public interaction with civilians: Analyzing traffic stops, arrests, citations, and searches.
  • Recruitment, selection, and promotion policies and practices.

Read the report HERE.

“The completion of this report is an important milestone in our on-going effort to reimagine public safety in Austin,” said Rey Arellano, Assistant City Manager for Public Safety. “This in-depth analysis offers a roadmap to addressing systemic inequities that erode trust between Austin Police and the public.”

Key takeaways highlighted in a summary report:

  • Analysis of existing APD data reveals consistent disparities in use of force, traffic stops, searches, and arrests among whites and communities of color.
  • Existing APD data collection needs improvement to better pinpoint the underlying causes in policing disparities.
  • More effort is needed to shift APD personnel demographics to more accurately reflect diversity in Austin.
  • APD recruitment practices are creative, comprehensive and reach a diverse audience of potential recruits.

“I look forward to reviewing the report findings and prioritizing recommendations that can better inform updates to APD policies and practices to evolve how we meet our community’s public safety needs, recruit and retain a diverse and well-trained force, and provide greater transparency with improved data collection processes,” said Joseph Chacon, Austin Police Chief.

The Kroll analysis is an outcome of Council Resolution 66 which directed the City Manager initiate a comprehensive, multi-pronged investigation and evaluation of the presence of bigotry and discrimination in the protocols, practices, and behaviors of the officers of the Austin Police Department and how those factors impact hiring, promotion, workplace culture and community interactions. 

Kroll’s scope of work also included a review (Phase A) of the APD Training Academy and its progress updating curriculum to better prepare cadets for policing in a multi-ethnic, diverse urban population consistent with contemporary best practices.  The findings of the Phase A review were published in a report released in April 2021.

The findings of today’s Phase B report will be discussed during a presentation at the January 25 City Council work session.

Reimagining Public Safety | AustinTexas.gov

What’s New
January 2022
Report offers ‘Roadmap’ to addressing inequities in Austin Policing

This is the MAIN website to access all of the public safety initiatives. It looks like they do a very good job continuously updating what has been achieved, what they are working on, and what is future projects. From here or you can go to the different topics at the top of the page and search for what interests you. There are two other posts that pertain for lawn Forssman so if you search my blog page for Austin Police you’ll get the other two posts that are specific to policing.
— Read on www.austintexas.gov/publicsafety

Policing the Police: Personnel Management and Police Misconduct

Abstract

Police misconduct is at the top of the public policy agenda, but there is surprisingly little understanding of how police personnel management policies affect police misconduct. Police-civilian interactions in large jurisdictions are, in principle at least, highly regulated. However, these regulations are at least partially counteracted by union contracts and civil service regulations that constrain discipline and other personnel decisions, thereby limiting a city’s ability to manage its police force. This article analyzes police personnel management by bringing forth evidence from a variety of data sources on police personnel practices as well as integrating an existing, but relatively siloed, literature on police misconduct. The empirical findings that emerge are as follows: (1) policing is a surprisingly secure, well-paid job with little turnover prior to retirement age; (2) inexperienced police officers are, all else equal, more likely to commit misconduct and at the same time more likely to receive high-risk assignments; and (3) bad cops are a serious problem, are identifiable, and are rarely removed or disciplined. Taken together, these facts suggest that attempts to regulate police conduct directly or through civil rights litigation are impeded by the inability of those who supervise police to control individual officers through assignments, discipline, and removal. The nexus of compensation, seniority, promotion, discipline, and pension policies that characterize much police personnel management cannot be rationalized under traditional labor and employment contract analysis. However, existing compensation and pension policies could be rationalized if supervisors were empowered to manage police through assignments, penalties, and promotion.

Get the report HERE

‘We’re Not Ready for Police-Free Zones’ | The Crime Report

This is an interesting discussion with Professor Moskos about crime and how New York City defeated crime in the 1990s. The Crime Report is a paid site where it allows 5 free articles a month. I recommend subscribing to it because it offers a lot of useful information about criminal justice issues.

Explanations for the rise in violent crime tend to avoid the role police play in crime prevention, argues policing expert Peter Moskos. In the latest installment of the “At the Crossroads” series of interviews sponsored by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, Moskos tells Greg Berman that cops need to be proactive in addressing clear threats like gun offenders.
— Read on thecrimereport.org/2022/01/20/were-not-ready-for-police-free-zones/

Timeline of events since George Floyd’s arrest and death | AP News

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A timeline of key events that began with George Floyd’s arrest on May 25, 2020, by four police officers in Minneapolis: May 25, 2020 — Minneapolis police officers respond to a call shortly after 8 p.m.
— Read on apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-george-floyd-minneapolis-arrests-police-7d8130621a8bf2ecec3e7df57f27827b