(Previously published in Front Page Mag.)
On the heels of the death of George Floyd, hundreds flooded to the streets, convincing city officials that cutting the budget of our police officers would be a necessary step in “making things right.” But now, years later, we’re seeing the effect of such a campaign, which is not only hurting thousands of fellow officers, but also the cities that they desperately tried so hard to protect.
One of those cities is Austin, Texas. That’s right, one of the sparkling jewels of that great state has now fallen to a higher level of violence. It’s seen a massive increase in homicide over the past few years; and its police presence has dwindled, to the point that the city’s own Police Chief has had enough.
Thomas Villarreal, president of the Austin Police Association, recently appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss the hazardous actions of city officials. He discussed how the city cut a massive $150 million from the police budget three years ago, and how the force hasn’t bounced back since.
“We just continue to have a city council that doesn’t show its police officers that [it] cares about them,” he explained.
Villarreal continued, “Back in December 2017, we had a city council vote down a police contract for the first time in the history of negotiating contracts. And, you know, we pushed forward to 2018, tried to get back under contract. Our city decidedto go through what they called reimagining police oversight. And then, you know, we got back under contract.”
But then, as you might guess, the year 2020 – and “defund the police” – came around, and, well, Austin’s police force got screwed over, so to speak. As a result, the city now sits around 1,475 active officers – well short of the 2,000+ that Villarreal suggested was needed to keep the streets safe.
“We just have a backward slide,” he suggested. “There’s less and less and less resources to go out and do the job. I’ve got detectives who are pulled away from their caseload to just help answer 911 calls because we just don’t have the resources to adequately police the city.”
And now, as I mentioned above, their police chief is headed out the door. Joseph Chacon had been with the police force for 25 years, and, after some thought and deliberation, decided to call it a career. I wish him nothing but peace and happiness, but I have a funny feeling that the city officials don’t necessarily do the same.
I think they forced his hand. Took away the budget needed to hire new officers; took away the resources for additional mental health and gear support; and “handcuffed” him (as Villarreal put it) from being able to move forward in any regard.
That is not how a city government should be treating its police force. And yet, we see a number of examples of it across the U.S., from New York to Portland to Chicago. As a result, their crime numbers have never been higher; and they’re having a tough time bringing new officers onto the force. What was once considered to be a prosperous (though dangerous) job is now nothing more than a bother, mainly because of how officers are getting treated.
And that’s on top of what people are screaming at them about “defund the police” – the city officials are giving the biggest backlash of them all.
Those Austin officials need to fix this. Bring back the officers that are needed on the streets. Show them that the care and devotion is there to back them up. Show their citizens that they actually care, instead of just trying to count money into new departments.
Because, otherwise, it’s going to fall into further despair and, like Chacon before them, they might just pack up and look for greener pastures. And the city of Austin certainly deserves better.
