How we got here
An Austin Police Department collaboration with Texas DPS was unveiled by Mayor Kirk Watson in late March stemming from discussions he said he had with state leaders, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott. The operation, which comes at no cost to the city, kicked off March 30.
Watson and other officials said the move was made to address public safety issues and to make residents feel safer. The DPS partnership is aimed specifically at violent crime and traffic violations while the city's police department remains short-staffed and is taking more time to respond to calls for service.
Watson and Police Chief Joseph Chacon have reiterated that the operation is meant to supplement local police activity in the city. Chacon also said he intends for APD officers to still handle most, if not all, calls for service even if DPS troopers are first on the scene.
“They’re not here to take over. They’re certainly not here to cause harm or to cause anxiety. That is not their mission," he said. "Their mission is to help, and that is clearly communicated at the outset of every new squad that comes in to work in the city to make sure that that is the mindset, that we’re here to keep citizens safe."
By the numbers
While the DPS operation is still in its early days, the police department has touted it as a success.
Through the first two full weeks, APD Chief Data Officer Jonathan Kringen said Austin saw a year-over-year reduction in violent crime compared to the same time in April 2022, as well as a similar trend from this March into April once the operation was underway. He also said 911 calls and police response times have fallen both citywide and within the specific areas DPS troopers have been deployed.
As of April 13, DPS troopers had pulled over more than 4,000 drivers and ticketed about 1,000 of them. The DPS initiative resulted in more than 150 arrests, the seizure of hundreds of pounds of drugs and the confiscation of dozens of guns and vehicles.
Zooming in
Despite the police department's reporting on results so far, several officials said they and their constituents are concerned about the demographics of Austinites pulled over or targeted by DPS and how troopers are distributed to patrol certain neighborhoods. During an April 18 briefing, multiple council members said they have seen an imbalance in patrol locations so far and heard worries about overpolicing in their communities.
“The second this partnership came online I was inundated with phone calls from community members, texts, that wanted to understand the partnership better," District 3 Council Member José Velásquez said. "I also love driving across this city and can tell you that there is a disparity between what is happening west of [I-35] and east of [I-]35 as far as presence is concerned.”
Chacon and Kringen said individual decisions to target particular neighborhoods are not being made, but rather that 911 call data is used to update troopers about areas that may be crime hot spots. They also said the number of DPS troopers involved in Austin and the location of their patrols will constantly vary as the operation continues.
"As they’re affecting it, we’re providing updated information, and they’re moving. As long as they continue to be effective, they’re going to move through every area of the city," Kringen said.
Chacon said he has requested demographic breakdowns of DPS stops but has not yet received that information from the agency.
Velásquez also asked Chacon whether DPS troopers are using the patrols to check immigration statuses and whether any arrests so far have led Austinites to experience related issues. Chacon said immigration is not a focus of the operation, although anyone arrested and processed in jail would have to identify their immigration status at that time.
District 4 Council Member Chito Vela, who said he observed DPS "aggressively" patrolling in his district when checking on constituent concerns, also asked that DPS take care to consider how the operation is affecting residents.
“There is that balance to be struck where there is kind of a resentment, especially where a lot of the stops are just patrol stops for relatively minor traffic violations and tags and registrations and those kinds of things like that. ... I would just urge both APD and DPS to be extremely cautious and respectful of communities and their response to a swarm of cruisers stopping every single person that is going 35 in a 30, or something to that effect," he said.
The big picture
Council also took time to discuss oversight of DPS and the program overall, given that state troopers operate under different policies and training than APD officers.
While issues, such as marijuana possession and abortion, are handled differently in the Austin area and under state law, Chacon said DPS is talking with elected attorneys, including José Garza and Delia Garza to match DPS's work with local prosecutorial practices.
District 2 Council Member Vanessa Fuentes also asked how residents who may have negative interactions with troopers can report on their experiences.
Austin has its own Office of Police Oversight to handle complaints against police, but DPS does not, and the APD is not able to process such requests. Chacon said the oversight office had received one complaint about DPS and referred it to the agency, but that any complaints should be forwarded right to DPS going forward.
The terms of the DPS deployment in Austin also remain unclear. In response to questions from District 10 Council Member Alison Alter, Chacon confirmed there is no written agreement governing the partnership, no information available about the number of troopers involved and no expected operational timeline.
“We have talked about, just a little bit, how long will this last? And the short answer is, right now we just don’t know," he said. "We’re trying to give it time to work."
As the partnership was launched by Watson without the involvement or approval of council members, Alter also questioned what an exit strategy might look like if they or their constituents no longer want to see DPS patrols in the city. Watson and Interim City Manager Jesús Garza deferred on an answer; Watson only said the setup is beneficial as Austin was able to set its own terms, and Garza only said it is necessary to continue the program for now.
“We’re in a crisis situation with respect to staffing at APD. This isn’t just a ‘would be nice to have.’ It’s a must-have. We don’t have it, and we haven’t had it for a while. And so this is one way—not a complete way—but it’s one way of addressing it," Garza said. "Before we begin to talk about what are the ways we pull the plug, give our officers time to catch their breath. ... Give us that time, and then let’s see what happens with the crime rate; let’s see what happens with traffic fatalities; let’s see what the successes would be before we start thinking about, ‘What’s the exit strategy?’”
Alter said more information is needed, and that more consideration should be given to other public safety options aside from growing the police force as the city continues to focus on alternate crime prevention strategies outside of APD.
“We cannot lose sight of the fact that we have other tools; we have other things that our community has said are important for them to feel safe. ... I am not comfortable just saying, ‘Let’s wait for six months and see how this plays out,'" she said. "We have an opportunity with new leadership to really be pushing on those other things and having the different departments work together."
Regular reports on DPS troopers' operations will be released as the work continues. More council review is also likely to come, including at a May public safety committee session, and Chacon said DPS Regional Director Vincent Luciano committed to briefing city officials in the future.
