AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin community members contacted the Office of Police Oversight (OPO) more than 800 times between Dec. 2018 and Dec. 2019, according to the city-run organization’s end of year report.
READ: Office of Police Oversight End of Year Report
The OPO was established in November 2018 at the Austin City Council’s order to provide impartial insight into APD’s “conduct, practices and policies.”
The goal is to take community feedback and add transparency to Austin’s main law enforcement body.
According to the report, the most common complaints and allegations included:
- Responsibility to the community
- Impartial attitude and courtesy
- Property and Equipment
- General Conduct and Responsibility
- Response to Resistance
99 of the contacts were received anonymously, 10 cases resulted in potential policy violations and 155 were referred to internal affairs, the report indicates.
An additional data analysis of racial profiling in Austin is set to be complete and released in early 2020. The report will examine traffic stops from 2015-2018, including recommendations to address racial and ethnic divides.
Not every contact was negative, however. The OPO received 101 thank yous from the community.
A more comprehensive annual report is set to be released in early 2020.
Community feedback
People in Austin said the Office of Police Oversight has helped build a level of trust between the community and APD. They say there needs to be a way to submit your feedback to the police, whether good or bad.
Sukyi McMahon, a strategic leader with the Austin Justice Coalition, remembered an uncomfortable moment during a traffic stop.
“When I got back into my car, everyone raised an eyebrow and said, ‘what was that?’ I said, ‘welcome to the club,’” McMahon said. “I should have filed a complaint at that time. But honestly, all I could think about was getting home.”
Austin police officers maintain that they respect the community and their input, and they want to remain transparent with them.
“If you have complaints of racial profiling or anything like that, you need to bring it forward,” said Ken Casaday, the president of the Austin Police Association.
The comprehensive report to be released in 2020 will have specific information on each of the complaints brought to the OPO. It comes as APD is under the microscope for recent allegations of racism within its leadership.
On Thursday, Chief Manley defended his department’s training.
“We are providing our cadets with not only the best training but also doing it in a manner that is free from any bias or issues,” Chief Manley said.
LULAC addresses concerns
One of the racism complaints against the Austin Police Department involved Assistant Chief Jennifer Stevenson.
She’s accused of making racist comments towards a hispanic detective.
Stevenson was a sergeant at the time. She allegedly talked about dropping the college education requirement from the department’s recruiting standards.
The complaint states Stevenson told the detective, “maybe now more of your people can get a job.”
On Thursday, the League of Latin American Citizens addressed their concerns with Chief Manley.
“Mainly, we wanted to show the Chief that we are pretty much aware of all the issues going on. I think these kind of issues have been going on for many, many years and they are not going to go away overnight,” said Leon Hernandez, the LULAC District 12 director.
After talking with Chief Manley, LULAC said they believe he is the right person to lead APD. They say they have confidence he will not tolerate any acts of racism in the department.
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