Austin City Council briefed on APD use of force policy updates

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin City Council was briefed Tuesday on updates to the Austin Police Department's use of force policies. 

A review showed their previous policies and data collection had many inconsistencies. 

Policy changes went into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and officers were trained on them that month. 

Previously, instances of arcing a taser or control holds were counted as use of force by an officer. Data policy changes would count those as reportable incidents, which a supervisor will look at, but it doesn't have to go through a use of force review.

What they're saying:

"If I were to tense my hand as an officer was putting it behind my back, they would count that as a level 4 use of force. That is not best practice. That is not a use of force. That is absolutely important that we capture that information, but that is not a use of force to be counted against the department," APD Chief Lisa Davis said during the meeting.

Dr. Robin Engel, a research scientist from Ohio State University, was contracted to do a comprehensive review of APD's use of force policies. She says she found there were inconsistencies in all aspects of the use of force, and data was likely overreported. 

In annual reports from 2020-2022, she says, "we were concerned about the quality and the reliability and validity of the data that had been shared publicly, so we corrected some of those problems that were in the data, and we reissued a number of reports."

In future data, people will likely see an increase in the number of taser arcs or pointing a gun, but that doesn't mean there's a change in behavior. It's how the data is collected.

Other data policy changes include updates to language and definitions, prohibiting strikes to the head, and requiring supervisor approval for OC in crowds.

In all instances, de-escalation is key.

"We are doubling down on de-escalation specifically in training but also in practice," Engel said.

Officers also previously didn't have to fill out their forms if the subject was impaired or if the officer was injured in a use of force case.

The majority of use of force cases are low level ones. Data shows factors that increase the likelihood of being subject to the use of force include being downtown, being a young person, and force is more likely to happen at night, on weekends, in the summer, and when the subject had no firearm or warrant. That's because people who are drunk downtown are more likely to be involved with officers. 

Engel says race was not a significant predictor of use of force in the data. 

With changes in police and data, APD says they'll make sure the community is aware. 

"How do we communicate these changes? It's incumbent on all of us to get it out there, it's me going to town halls, it's me talking at community events, it's all of our command staff, it's all the officers, sergeants talking about that," Davis said.

What's next:

Going forward, APD will continue to keep track of their use-of-force trends and develop a data dashboard as well.

From Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025, APD reported: 2,809 use of force incidents, involving 3,083 individual subjects, and 908 officers.

A link to Tuesday's presentation can be found here.