Item 6: Slide Deck — original pdf

Backup

Public Safety Commission Austin Public Safety Commission Report Report to Austin Downtown Commission to the Austin Downtown Commission Public Safety Commission Update To the Austin Downtown Commission Photo Credit Larry D. Moore Primary Public Safety Issues for Downtown Austin # 1 Increased Threat of Political/ Hate-motivated violence Primary Public Safety Issues for Downtown Austin #2 Alcohol and drug related safety and health threats, including DWIs, sexual assaults, public intoxication and harassment Photo by Mark Sadowski from Madison, Wisconsin, United States - IMG_9649, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=150180374 Threats to Austin’s Capacity to Address Public Safety Challenges ● Police moral and ongoing recruitment/training challenges at APD. ● Recent threat to sexual assault forensic nursing access. ● Extreme federal funding cuts in family violence and sexual assault services. Additional Public Safety Challenges: Not housing everyone ● Austin’s unhoused population is over 3,200 people and likely to grow with federal funding cuts and Austin budget limitations. ● The unhoused population, although largely victims rather than perpetrators of violence, make visitors and housed residents uneasy and create sanitation and safety issues. Photo Credit Dustin Ground from Austin, TX, USofA - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dground/344731110/ Additional Public Safety Challenges: Vehicle Pedestrian/Cyclist Accidents ● Austin’s Vision Zero program focuses on multiple strategies for reducing vehicle pedestrian/cyclist accidents. Because of the sheer volume of pedestrians downtown, the substantial activity after dark and alcohol consumption, pedestrian deaths downtown occur at least annually. Additional Public Safety Resources Downtown Sobering Center Austin has built and is expanding institutional resources to address the threats posed by consumption of alcohol and drugs. Austin Public Safety Commission ● Quarterly reports from Austin/Travis County EMS, Austin Fire Department and Austin Police Department. ● Monitoring of: ● Austin wildfire preparation ● Emergency management (HSEM) of weather emergencies ● Management of large public events ● The Collective Sex Crimes Response Model, ● Austin Police Department recruitment, training and retention, and ● EMS special projects including opioid overdose response and the Collaborative Care Communications Center (C4). Image by Kevinkuhn - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13296599 Recommendations ● Address public safety issues with multi-pronged approaches that do not rely on law enforcement alone. ● Support social safety net programs that reduce violence against women and increase the likelihood that individuals prone to mass violence rise to law enforcement’s attention. ● Continue to invest in strategies to mitigate the harms of excessive alcohol and recreational drug consumption, including the expansion of the Sobering Center. ● Build community among business owners, staff, downtown ambassadors, law enforcement, service providers and the unhoused population.