Texas DPS Suspends Partnership in Austin

Austin (KXAN) — Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Temporarily end affiliation with Austin Police Department (APD) This is to allow police officers to focus their attention on border cities after an incident. Title 42 expiredaccording to law enforcement officials.

The effort, called the Austin Violent Crime Task Force (AVCTF), began on March 30. How to help APDs facing staffing shortages. APD currently has about 300 vacancies.

Law enforcement officials say the DPS will end on Saturday, and officers are likely not to return to patrol Austin for several weeks.

APD says there has been a “significant reduction in violent crime, response times and service requests” since the program began. The department used a data-driven approach to identify crime “hotspots” and busy roads where traffic accidents were most likely to occur, and dispatched officers to those locations.

According to APD’s chief data officer, crime hot spots where DPS was deployed saw a 58% reduction in violent crime. The presence of DPS also helped APD to respond quickly to emergency calls.

The plan has also drawn criticism from heavily patrolled communities, who feel they are unfairly targeted by traffic stops. City council members shared some of these concerns at a press conference earlier this month.

In an email sent to staff, APD Director Joseph Chacon thanked DPS officers for their efforts, citing declining reports of gun and drug arrests and violent crimes. expressed. He told staff he would keep the department updated as to when officers would return.