City Manager must enforce police oversight policies, new resolution says

Austin, TX -- Sept. 27, 2023

Austin City Council passed a resolution on Sep. 21 demanding swift action to strengthen the Office of Police Oversight after months of delay.

“We placed this decision in the hands of the voters in May,” Council Member Zohaib Qadri said. “It is now our obligation as their elected representatives to put their will into action.”

In May, Austin voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition A, the Austin Police Oversight Act. Equity Action, a criminal justice non-profit, sponsored Prop A. With 80% of the vote, it defeated the Austin police union’s copycat Proposition B that aimed to weaken police oversight. This win allowed the Office of Police Oversight to access body camera footage, investigate reports of police misconduct, and suggest disciplinary action to the police chief. But after five months of confusion, the OPO has yet to employ any of its new oversight powers, while the Austin Police Department received a $31.7 million budget increase.

“Y’all are spitting on us like our voices don’t count,” resident Elizabeth Gonzales said at the meeting.

Two Austin police officers, Gabriel Gutierrez and Luis Serrato, shot and killed her son, Alex Gonzales, in Jan. 2021. Elizabeth Gonzales had to wait 140 days to see the body camera footage, and Police Chief Joe Chacon decided against any disciplinary action for the officers in Jan. 2023. Gonzales believes policies like Prop A could have brought justice for her son or prevented the violence in the first place.

“I believe that there’s gotta be a change, somewhere, somehow,” Gonzales said. “I wish this would’ve passed before what happened to my son.”

The OPO began operations in November 2018 as a way to receive and monitor complaints about police officers. However, the office still hasn’t conducted its own investigations since Prop A passed, or helped any citizens navigate the complaint process. The proposition also requires the OPO to publish regular reports on their website about the progress of new policies, procedures and investigations. Equity Action Board President Chris Harris said he waited all summer for reports that never came.

“We felt very hopeful about finally achieving some long-standing goals of our movement that we’ve been fighting for the better part of a decade,” Harris said. “We were just steadily met with a lot of silence.”

Finally, the OPO broke the silence with a new report on September 18. It confirmed that the office still isn’t conducting investigations, and its complaint numbers are inconsistent with previous years. Since its inception in 2018, the office has received over 1,000 complaints annually. Yet, the September report said only 275 complaints were filed between April 1 and August 31.

“They’ve been operating under a legally dubious interpretation,” Harris said. “In order for something to be considered a complaint, it must be accompanied by a sworn affidavit.”

This goes against protocol in Prop A by eliminating the aspect of anonymity. The office declined to comment or explain this new process of classifying complaints. Harris said the new resolution should resolve this issue.

Mayor Kirk Watson said at the Sep. 21 meeting that the council wants to implement as much of the new proposition as possible. The Texas Attorney General’s office also released an opinion that said APD must give the Austin Chronicle hidden misconduct records about Officer Christopher Taylor’s shooting of Mike Ramos. Prop A makes these hidden police files, referred to as the “G file,” illegal, and the opinion enforces that. Despite this support, City Manager Jesus Garza has failed to implement the new policies.

“We anticipated pushback from the City Manager, who clearly does not want to see this ballot measure implemented,” Harris said.

City Manager Jesus Garza has declined to respond to any media regarding the delay. Moreover, the police union argued that Prop A’s policies cannot be enforced without union negotiations and a police contract.

“The APA simply will not stand by while this city and anti-police activists operate with blatant disregard for state law,” the union said.

By late July, Harris realized Equity Action would need to push more legislation to guarantee Prop A’s survival. The new resolution directly orders the City Manager to implement Prop A’s policies regarding OPO training, investigations and reporting. It also contains a report-back mechanism to ensure regular updates on the office’s progress.

“Through a resolution we could really put forward not just what needs to happen but a lot more about how it needs to happen,” Harris said.

The council unanimously adopted the resolution, but Mayor Kirk Watson warned that another revision might be necessary in the near future. He assured this would be an opportunity to implement even more of the proposition’s policies.

“At least stick to your word, and do what you need to do for me, for the people,” Gonzales told the council.