Articles tagged: Austin Police Department
The ‘Culture of Violence’ Inside Austin’s Police Academy
Recent audits of the city’s cadet training spotlight a warrior-cop culture that pervades policing, even in a so-called progressive city.
An averted tragedy first made Summer Spisak consider the drastic career change that landed her in Austin’s police training academy. A police officer, she says...Read More
Reform vs. Rebuild: Defunding Law Enforcement in Texas
Years of activism and a legacy of police violence are fueling demands to reimagine public safety.
Reform vs. Rebuild: Defunding Law Enforcement in Texas Years of activism and a legacy of police violence are fueling demands to reimagine public safety. By Mich...Read More
A Top Cop Accused of Racism Forces Austin to Confront Bias in Law Enforcement
Austin isn’t the only Texas city where trust between police and communities of color has frayed this year.
In late October, Assistant Chief Justin Newsom abruptly resigned from the Austin Police Department after 23 years on the force. Newsom, who oversaw the departme...Read More
The Big Blue Obstacle to Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform
In the era of right-on-crime-backed efforts to curb mass incarceration, police unions have increasingly become a voice in the wilderness.
Jack Michael Ule’s death inside the Bexar County jail on April 18 struck a nerve. Arrested two weeks earlier for criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor, Ule...Read More
In Austin, ‘Discretionary’ Arrests for Petty Crimes Skew Blacker, Browner Than City Population
Austin Police Department officers used their discretion to arrest black defendants at a rate more than double that of either whites or Latinos last year.
In Texas, the consequences of getting caught with pot are a crapshoot. While the state has some of the most draconian and nonsensical marijuana laws on the book...Read More
Cops in Austin, Dallas, Galveston and Hearne Punished for Brutality This Week
Recent stories from diverse parts of Texas suggest that increased awareness, public pressure and new technology are creating more accountability for law enforce...Read More
A Man Was Murdered Here
Searching for clues to the life and death of William Greer.
The murder of a homeless man, William Greer, was one of only two Austin homicides from 2012 that remain unsolved....Read More