{"id":597898,"date":"2021-07-20T12:36:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T16:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=597898"},"modified":"2021-07-20T12:36:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T16:36:29","slug":"austin-tx-defunded-police-police-chief-crisis-homicide-rate-weve-never-really-seen-here-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/austin-tx-defunded-police-police-chief-crisis-homicide-rate-weve-never-really-seen-here-before\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin, TX Defunded Police, Police Chief: \u2018Crisis,\u2019 Homicide Rate \u2018We\u2019ve Never Really Seen Here Before\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Faustin-tx-defunded-police-police-chief-crisis-homicide-rate-weve-never-really-seen-here-before%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=597898&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-934391242.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The interim police chief of Austin, Texas, declared that his department is in the midst of a what he called \u201cdire\u201d situation that was a \u201ccrisis\u201d due to the defunding efforts that denuded the department\u2019s coffers of $150 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast summer, the Austin City Council voted to defund the police department by $150 million, which resulted in canceling multiple cadet classes and disbanding multiple units responsible for responding to DWIs, domestic violence calls, stalking, and criminal interdiction,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/texas\/interim-chief-austin-police-department-in-dire-crisis-after-defunding\/article_f1cf3332-e8b2-11eb-a76c-afc3b5f2ca55.html\">The Center Square<\/a> noted.<\/p>\n<p>Interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon revealed that the response times to 911 calls have slowed to 20-30 minutes on average, adding that the homicide rate has reached numbers \u201cwe\u2019ve never really seen here before.\u201d Chacon added that he has contacted \u201ceach council member to explain the dire situation we are in. And I\u2019m going to call it a crisis, because that\u2019s what it is, and they all get it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chacon delineated how responses to \u201cP0\u201d calls, which comprise shootings, stabbings, rape, and domestic violence in progress, have averaged nine minutes and two seconds while \u201cP1\u201d calls, in which the assailant is still in the area, have averaged 10 minutes and 41 seconds, and both of those average response times might be too late for the victims. He attributed the slower response times to an understaffed force, as 15-20 officers have left the force each month; he contended that the current number of employees is \u201cnot sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe department is projecting 235 vacancies by May 2022, and 340 vacancies by May 2023.\u201d The Center Square noted.<\/p>\n<p>Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly agreed with Chacon that the situation is critical, telling KXAN. \u201cWe need to have more police officers in order to get to scenes quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the Austin City Council voted to defund the police in August 2020, the<a href=\"https:\/\/tmpa.org\/tmpa\/About\/about_us\">Texas Municipal Police Association<\/a>, the largest law enforcement association in Texas, took out billboards reading, \u201cWarning! Austin Police Defunded. Enter At Your Own Risk!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Austin&#039;s police defunding could spread crime among Central Texas, warns TMPA\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/37xHHUvLG_Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>The advocacy group Save Austin Now has filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/fagq35i4kx0.typeform.com\/to\/MKs3NLBP\">petition<\/a> for a public safety law that would require two police officers per 1,000 citizens. The group states on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saveaustinnowpac.com\/\">website<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"20\">\n<p><em>Austin doesn\u2019t feel as safe recently. Because it isn\u2019t. We\u2019ve seen a series of city policy decisions over the last 2 years that have led to a surge in both violent crime and property crime against Austinites. A 300% increase in murders this year. A double-digit increase in property crimes such as burglaries and carjackings. And a massive increase in reports of \u201csoft crimes\u201d that make us uncomfortable, especially us women. This isn\u2019t the Austin we know and love, and it doesn\u2019t have to be.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>There is much work to be done, and our petition to restore safety to Austin is a critical first step. This citizen\u2019s petition, if passed, will ensure that the city council and our police are held to account for public safety with an elected, director of police oversight; it will ensure that we have adequate police staffing and public safety funds cannot be chopped without Austinites\u2019 input; it will ensure that officers receive double the training; it will ensure that our police officers are rewarded for committing to diversity. Public safety is nonpartisan but it is the most important thing we do together, as citizens.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The interim police chief of Austin, Texas, declared that his department is in the midst of a what he called \u201cdire\u201d situation that was a \u201ccrisis\u201d due to the defunding &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}