Former ATX Council member: “They are playing politics with the safety of our community”

Former member of Austin City Council shares thoughts on defunding APD

Advocates have pushed for this for months, however Ellen Troxclair is outraged by the council's decision. She believes the decision was a political move and she believes this will make Austin less safe.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin City Council voted to take away millions from the APD budget. $23 million will immediately be taken. The remaining $130 million will be reimagined or reallocated.

“The remainder of the funds are still doing the function they are assigned to do. We are contemplating moving some of those functions into other departments, the functions will still exist,” said Flannigan.

As part of the cuts, future cadet classes for November and likely March and June will be halted Flannigan said. “Even from the folks who believe more police is the solution, even those folks acknowledge there needs to be improvement in training, material, and the process by which new officers are brought into the force. Maybe we shouldn't be bringing more cadets into a broken training system, until we fix that training,” said Flannigan.

Future cadets who moved for Austin police academy feel ‘lied to’

Months after receiving orders to report to Austin, the soon-to-be cadets learned their class and the following two cadet classes were cancelled.

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Flannigan is hoping this new budget can kick start police reform, however, the council's decision is being met with some disapproval as well. “Cutting cadet classes is only going to exacerbate our problems and probably increase response times,” said Ellen Troxclair, a senior fellow at Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Troxclair believes the council's decision was purely political and hypocritical. “These same council members approved a budget that increased APD’s budget. It shows us it is completely politically driven,” she said.

She said in a city that continues to grow like Austin, police staffing must keep up. “This decision sends the message that they are absolutely not needed and I think it is only going to increase the difficult tension we already have,” said Troxclair.

Austin City Council cuts millions of dollars from APD budget

The Austin City Council has voted unanimously to cut the Austin Police Department's bidget by millions of dollars.

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Both sides do agree, police reform and change are needed, but how will that be accomplished, is the question. “Clearly something wasn’t working. I’m eager to see if it helps,” said Cole Bauer, Austin resident.

“They are playing politics with the safety of our community,” said Troxclair.