Austin needs public safety that is accountable to the communities it serves. APD Chief is responsible for the actions of the police department. In the recent past, APD killed unarmed Michael Ramos, harmed peaceful protestors, and racial profiling of Black and Brown Austinites has gotten worse. APD leadership has also ignored overtly racist behavior by police department leadership, misrepresented the facts of Michael Ramos’s killing to the Attorney General, disregarded the Office of Police Oversight, refused City Counsel’s requests to reform the police academy, among a litany of other failures.
If APD leadership isn’t held responsible for these actions, police officers will not do better.
What can Kitchen do?
- Demand City Council follow through on it’s commitment to have no new cadet classes until all known issues are resolved in the training program and the new class is approved by council and the larger Austin community.
- Any hiring of a new police chief must account for the needed changes in APD and must involve a board of community organizations.