REGULAR MEETING of the PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION JANUARY 8, 2024 at 3:30PM AUSTIN CITY HALL, Boards and Commission Room #1101 301 WEST 2nd STREET AUSTIN, TEXAS Some members of the Public Safety Commission may be participating by videoconference. The meeting may be viewed online at: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/watch-atxn-live Public comment will be allowed in-person or remotely via telephone. Speakers may only register to speak on an item once either in-person or remotely and will be allowed up to three minutes to provide their comments. Registration no later than noon the day before the meeting is required for remote participation by telephone. To register to speak remotely, call or email Janet Jackson, (512) 974-5747, or Janet.jackson@austintexas.gov. CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS/COMMISSIONERS: Nelly Paulina Ramírez, Chair Rebecca Bernhardt, Vice Chair David Holmes Paul Hermesmeyer Cory Hall-Martin Pierre Nguyễn Kristy Orr Lauren Peña Timothy Ruttan Yasmine Smith AGENDA CALL TO ORDER PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL (from speakers signed up to speak) The first three speakers signed up prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approve the minutes of the PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION REGULAR CALLED MEETING on December 4, 2023. STAFF BRIEFINGS 2. Staff Briefing to provide follow up responses to questions presented at December 4, 2023 meeting regarding items 3, 4 & 5 on the EMS quarterly report, Office of Police Oversight, and Sobering Center. DISCUSSION 3. Public Safety Quarterly Report – Austin Police Department (Sponsors: Commissioners Ramírez and Bernhardt) 4. Discussion of 88th & Special Texas Legislative sessions and impacts on public safety departments with the Intergovernmental Relations Office (Sponsors: Commissioners Bernhardt & Ramírez) ACTION ITEM 5. Discussion and action on Virtual Magistration Pilot Program with Austin Police Department, Travis County Court System, and Travis County Public Defender’s Office (Sponsors: Commissioners Bernhardt & Ramírez) 6. Discussion and potential formation of Budget Recommendations Working Group (Sponsors: Commissioners Ramírez & Peña) FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ADJOURNMENT The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. Meeting locations are planned with wheelchair access. If requiring Sign Language Interpreters or alternative formats, please give notice at least 2 days (48 hours) before the meeting date. Please call Janet Jackson, Austin Police Department, at 512-974-547, for additional information; TTY users route through Relay …
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Austin Police Department Virtual Magistration Pilot Program January 8, 2024 Date: Subject: Motioned by: Rebecca Bernhardt Seconded by: Nelly Paulina Ramirez Recommendation: The Public Safety Commission recommends Pilot program in early 2024. WHEREAS, the Austin Police Department is planning to roll out a Virtual Magistration WHEREAS, the process of prescreening arrests, where the Travis County County Attorney’s Office and District Attorney’s Office attorneys review arrest affidavits and decide which cases proceed to prosecution, saves the Travis County taxpayers resources by preventing people who are not going to be prosecuted from being jailed at taxpayer expense; WHEREAS, Travis County operates an experienced pretrial services office that provides detailed information, including risk assessments and criminal history, relied upon by City of Austin Magistrates in making their bond decisions; WHEREAS, the work of Travis County Pretrial Services has been studied and has the documented benefits to Travis County of decreasing incidents where dangerous arrestees are released on bond and commit new violence as well as ensuring low-risk arrestees are likely to be released; WHEREAS, it is unclear how the Austin Police Department plan to duplicate the expertise and services provided by Travis County Pretrial Services and it is unlikely they will be able to do so; WHEREAS, if the Austin Police Department operates the magistration pilot without effective pretrial services screening of arrestees, it is likely to decrease public safety and instability in the Austin community; WHEREAS, Travis County continues to work to incorporate counsel at first appearance into their processes and there is no plan to enable incorporation of counsel in the Virtual Magistration Pilot program: WHEREAS, the Virtual Magistration Pilot program does not appear to allow for the provision of counsel at magistration, either for appointed counsel or retained counsel, potentially violating the 6th Amendment of the US Constitution; WHEREAS, the Virtual Magistration Pilot program does not appear to allow for the ability of the public to view magistration proceedings, thereby potentially resulting in an “open courts” violation of the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution; WHEREAS, the Austin Police Department plans to operate a holding facility at APD Headquarter; WHEREAS, APD Headquarters is considered functionally obsolete by the City of Austin and slated to be replaced in the next few years with a new, more appropriate facility; WHEREAS, Austin Police operated a “city jail facility” in APD Headquarters until 2000, when Austin and Travis County consolidated …
November 30, 2023 Kirk Watson, Mayor of Austin Natasha Harper-Madison, Austin City Council, District 1 Vanessa Fuentes, Austin City Council, District 2 José Velásquez, Austin City Council, District 3 José “Chito” Vela, Austin City Council, District 4 Ryan Alter, Austin City Council, District 5 Mackenzie Kelly, Austin City Council, District 6 Leslie Pool, Austin City Council, District 7 Paige Ellis, Mayor Pro Tem, Austin City Council, District 8 Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, Austin City Council, District 9 Alison Alter, Austin City Council, District 10 Jesús Garza, Austin City Manager Bruce Mills, Austin Assistant City Manager over Public Safety Judge Sherry Statman, Presiding Municipal Judge, City of Austin Robin Henderson, Chief of Austin Police Department Re: Proposal to Conduct Magistration Away from Central Booking Dear City of Austin Leaders, We are writing to you regarding the City’s proposal to conduct a pilot program where magistrations are conducted outside of the Travis County Sheriff’s Central Booking facility. We recognize the desire to magistrate arrestees as efficiently as possible and to be fiscally responsible with the City’s resources and agree that these are worthwhile objectives. These aims, however, should not come at the expense of the integrity of our community’s magistration process. As the judges of the courts where these cases will ultimately be heard, we have important concerns about the proposed process, including: • The proposal works against the progress made toward providing counsel at magistration. Providing arrestees with counsel at first appearance (CAFA) is a goal that the Travis County criminal judiciary strongly supports and has been working to implement along with the Travis County Commissioners Court, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, Travis County prosecutors, and the defense bar. We know that moving toward CAFA is also important to the City of Austin, as acknowledged in DocuSign Envelope ID: C500BA73-5807-4675-A9CE-2179A04170C0 Resolution Number 20200409-030, adopted April 9, 2020. Providing counsel at magistration is of great concern to the community and major steps have been taken toward the implementation of this process. Notably, the County Commissioner’s Court has already devoted $1.5 million to retrofit the jail for the sole purpose of assisting with counsel representing people at their first appearance before a magistrate. Instituting a system that not only takes arrestees away from Central Booking but also utilizes a virtual magistration system where they do not see the judge in person is a countermeasure to this aim and works against the goals of our …
88TH STATE LEGISLATURE Intergovernmental Relations Office – Brie L. Franco, Officer WHERE WE STARTED: 2022 PRE-FILED LEGISLATION • Multiple Austin-specific and General City bills were pre-filed in 2022, indicating a tough session ahead for Austin and Cities in general. • Austin Specific • District of Austin – HB 714 by Patterson • DPS Takeover of Austin Police Department – HB 880 by Slawson • Guaranteed Income Preemption – HB 553 by Troxclair • Paid Sick Leave Preemption – SB 130 by Campbell; HB 121 by Vasut • City Specific • Intra-state Commerce Preemption • Municipal Permitting • Community Advocacy (i.e. taxpayer funded lobbying) • By the time the Session began, additional bills concerning significant issues impacting Cities had been filed, such as ETJ regulation, permitting, anddisannexation. 1 88TH REGULAR SESSION STATISTICS • A total 8,153 bills and joint resolutions were filed in the 88th Regular Session, with 1,020 bills and joint resolutions filed on the final day of filing alone. • For context, a total of 7,148 bills and joint resolutions were filed in the 87th Regular Session in 2021. • IGRO tracked 1,678 bills • IGRO identified 81 priority bills that would have had a highly negative impact on City. By the end of the 88th Session, 75 of the priority negative bills failed to pass and 6 finally passed. • Governor Abbott vetoed 76 bills, many of which he said could be taken up again in a special session. 2 88TH SPECIAL SESSIONS: STATISTICS 1st Called Session 2nd Called Session 3rd Called Session • May 29 – June • June 27 – July 27 Filed. 13 Filed • Oct. 9 – Nov. 7 JRs Filed • 66 Bills and JRs • 94 Bills and JRs • 287 Bills and • No bills passed • 3 bills passed • 2 bills passed 4th Called Session* • Nov. 7 – Dec. 5 • 161 Bills and JRs Filed • 2 bills passed * First time a Texas governor has called a fourth special session the same year as the regular session 3 88TH SPECIAL SESSION(S) • The Governor called a total of four Special Sessions on a range of topics, including: • Cutting property-tax rates • Increasing or enhancing the penalties for criminal conduct involving the human smuggling or the operation of a stash house • Border security infrastructure and border wall funding • Creating a criminal offense for illegal …
Austin Public Safety Commission Austin Police Department Booking and Magistration Process January 8, 2024 Background: Post-Arrest Processes 1. Immediate post-arrest actions occur at Travis Central Booking Facility (“Central Booking”) 2. Central Booking – owned by Travis Co., operated by Travis County Sheriff’s Office (“TCSO”) 3. APD arrests = 60-65% of all arrests processed at Central Booking 4. City and Travis County have interlocal agreement (since 1983) to share duties, responsibilities, and costs at Central Booking 1 Background - Virtual Magistration Project Summer 2023: City of Austin & Travis County began renegotiating Central Booking Interlocal Agreement Costs: Previous annual cost: $6.9M County’s recommendation to move forward: $14.5M New negotiated annual cost: $9.9M Post-Arrest Process Reevaluation • City Issues: 1. Cost – while City’s cost will increase from $6.9M to $9.9M (FY23 to FY24), the percentage of APD arrests at Central Booking is decreasing (FY22 = 64.66%; FY23 = 61.2%) 2. Efficiency – in light of staffing shortages APD needs to minimize arresting officer time spent at Central Booking • Conclusion: evaluate feasibility of alternative post-arrest processes 5 What We Found APD can complete all of the same forms and processes required for the magistration process off-site from Central Booking Comparison of Processes Examples of forms and processes completed: Current TCSO Magistration Process APD Virtual Magistration Process PC Affidavit PC Affidavit Mental health pre-screening Mental health pre-screening Financial questionnaire Financial questionnaire PSRS Checklist PSRS Checklist Computerized Criminal History (CCH) Computerized Criminal History (CCH) TCSO Odyssey Review TCSO Odyssey Review No CAFA, but will in the future No CAFA, but will in the future Next Steps 1. Continued work on design of an alternative post-arrest process 2. Mock trial testing of alternative process (Q1 2024) 3. Ongoing legal review to ensure both state law compliance and protection of arrestee rights 4. Continuing dialogue with Travis Co. re current interlocal contract and potential future alternatives 7 Questions?
Austin Police Department Public Safety Commission – FY2024 Q1 Presentation • • • Section 1: Crimes Against Persons Section 4: Community Engagement Section 2: Crimes Against Property/Society Section 5: Budget Section 3: Response Times & Call Volumes Section 6: Staffing & Vacancies • • • APD Public Safety Commission – FY2024 Q1 Data compiled by APD Research & Planning unit Slide 1 Crimes Against Persons by Offense Type FY2024 Q1 vs. FY2023 Q1 | FY2024 Q1 vs. 5-Year Mean (Q1) Crimes Against Persons Offense Type FY2023 Q1 FY2024 Q1 1-Year Change 5-Year Mean (FY2019-2023 Q1) Difference from 5-Year Mean Assault Offenses (13A, 13B, 13C) 4604 4367 4130 Homicide Offenses (09A, 09B) Kidnapping/Abduction (100) Sex Offenses (11A, 11B, 11C, 11D, 36A, 36B) Other Crimes Against Persons (64A, 64B) 13 51 245 3 20 56 217 0 25 56 155 0 Total Crimes Against Persons 4916 4660 4366 -5% 25% 0% -29% 0% -6% -10% 95% 10% -37% -100% -11% Slide 2 APD Public Safety Commission – FY2024 Q1 Data compiled by APD Research & Planning unit Crimes Against Persons by APD Sector FY2024 Q1 vs. FY2023 Q1 Crimes Against Persons APD Sector FY2023 Q1 FY2024 Q1 Percent Change Adam Baker Charlie David Edward Frank George Henry Ida Total 481 468 504 462 818 558 329 580 409 52 427 323 508 435 827 576 296 521 417 36 -11% -31% 1% -6% 1% 3% -10% -10% 2% -31% -6% Other (including airport) 4661 4366 APD Public Safety Commission – FY2024 Q1 Data compiled by APD Research & Planning unit Change from FY2023 to FY2024 (Q1) Slide 3 Crimes Against Persons by City Council District FY2024 Q1 vs. FY2023 Q1 Crimes Against Persons City Council District FY2023 Q1 FY2024 Q1 Percent Change 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total 562 490 753 817 271 237 387 141 782 180 565 484 754 843 272 158 386 127 576 179 4620 4344 1% -1% 0% 3% 0% -33% 0% -10% -26% -1% -6% APD Public Safety Commission – FY2024 Q1 Data compiled by APD Research & Planning unit Change from FY2023 to FY2024 (Q1) Slide 4 Crimes Against Persons Density (“Hotspots”) FY2024 Q1 vs. FY2023 Q1 Crimes Against Persons FY2023 Q1 FY2024 Q1 Change APD Public Safety Commission – FY2024 Q1 Data compiled by APD Research & Planning unit Slide 5 Crimes Against Property/Society by Offense Type FY2024 Q1 …
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION REGULAR CALLED MEETING MINUTES MONDAY December 4, 2023 The PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION convened in a REGULAR CALLED MEETING on Monday, December 4, 2023 at City Hall Building, Boards and Commissions Rm, 301 W. 2nd Street, AUSTIN, TEXAS Chair Ramirez called the Public Safety Commission Meeting to order at 4:05pm. Board Members/Commissioners in Attendance: Nelly Ramirez, Chair Rebecca Bernhardt, Vice Chair Pierre Nguyen Board Members/Commissioners in Attendance Remotely: David Holmes and Cory Hall-Martin Absent: Commissioners John Kiracofe (resigned), Jasmine Smith, and Kristy Orr Tim Ruttan Lauren Pena PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: - Carlos Leon – Capital Metro regarding customer service APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Chair Ramirez called for the approval of the minutes for November 6, 2023. The minutes from the meeting of November 6, 2023 were approved on Commissioner Nguyen’s motion, Commissioner Pena’s second on a 6-0 vote. Commissioners Orr, and Smith were absent. 2. Staff Briefings – post to the website 1 3. Public Safety Quarterly Report for EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Speaker – Chief of Staff, Teresa Gardner Chief Gardner presented the usual quarterly stats for EMS. The categories presented on were: current staffing, employee separations, current vacancy rate, turnover rate, Opiate overdose numbers and Narcan Rescue kits used this quarter. In addition to these categories there was new information on Pop Ups Resource Clinics. The Pop Up clinics is where different agencies come together in communities of homeless population mostly and communities that are lacking in various resources. The Pop Up clinics help to shelter, health assistance and various resources needed for the less advantage population. There is a new service offered “Tele judge Implementation “set up in October 2023. There were questions from Commissioner Nguyen on heat maps being used in future presenting of quarterly stats, and an update on how the community education programs are affecting the community they are serving. Commissioner Ruttan asked if there was any special help/assistance from Public Safety Commission needed to support the Narcan Kits education. In closing Commissioner Ramirez was curious on the number of times the Tele- judge had been used. 4. Discussion of Office of Police Oversight’s under new leadership, implementation of APOA and Resolution 99 with Equity Action and community leaders Chair Ramirez welcomed new Gail McCant, Director of Office of Police Oversight and opened the floor for her to introduce herself and present her overview of the Office of Police Oversight, the staff makeup …
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION REGULAR CALLED MEETING MINUTES MONDAY January 8, 2024 The PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION convened in a REGULAR CALLED MEETING on Monday, January 8, 2024 at City Hall Building, Boards and Commissions Rm, 301 W. 2nd Street, AUSTIN, TEXAS Chair Ramirez called the Public Safety Commission Meeting to order at 3:35pm. Board Members/Commissioners in Attendance: Nelly Ramirez, Chair Rebecca Bernhardt, Vice Chair Pierre Nguyen Kristy Orr Lauren Pena Paul Hermesmeyer Timothy Ruttan Board Members/Commissioners in Attendance Remotely: Yasmine Smith Absent: Commissioners Cory Hall-Martin and David Holmes PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: - None – speakers were later called with Item 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Chair Ramirez called for the approval of the minutes for December 4, 2023. The minutes from the meeting of December 4, 2023 were approved on Commissioner Nguyen’s motion, with Commissioner Pena second on a vote with Commissioner Smith abstaining and 6 voting for approval. Commissioners Holmes and Hall-Martin were absent. 2. Staff Briefings – none. 3. Public Safety Quarterly Report for Austin Police Department Speaker – Chief of Staff Jeff Greenwalt Chief Greenwalt acknowledged that at a previous meeting department representatives were asked to keep quarterly reports high-level, so the format of the presentation has changed to reflect this request. Chief Greenwalt reported the following stats in the presentation: -Crimes against persons by offense type -Crimes against persons by APD sector -Crimes against persons by City Council district -Crimes against persons density (“hotspots”) -Crimes against property/society by offense type -Crimes against property/society by APD sector -Crimes against property/society by City Council district -Crimes against property/society by density (“hotspots”) -Citywide response times and call volume -Response times and incident volume by City Council district -Emergency and urgent call volume by month -Community engagement -Overtime budget vs. hours worked -Personnel budget vs. total expenditures -Cadet classes -Staffing levels -Patrol officer staffing and vacancies by area command Chair Ramirez opened the floor for questions. - Clarified that Q1 report is covering October-December (Chair Ramirez) - Request to color coordinate slides that have sector and districts for geographic clarity moving forward (Commissioner Smith) 4. Discussion of 88th Special Texas Legislative Session and Impacts on Public Safety Speaker – Brie Franco, City Intergovernmental Relations Officer Four special sessions were covered in this presentation. A summary of information included is below: -2022 pre-filed legislation (HB 714, HB 880, HB 553, SB 130) -88TH regular session statistics -88th special sessions statistics -88th special sessions …
