AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Police Chief Brian Manley is retiring.
In an email sent to the entire department and City Manager Spencer Cronk, Manley announced he will retire at the end of March after a 30-year career with APD.
Manley was hired as police chief four years ago, and said he’s not sure what he’ll do after retirement.
“While I am uncertain whether I will continue in the Law Enforcement field or transition to the private sector, I will always look back at my APD career with pride, and my co-workers with admiration and appreciation,” he said in the letter.
Manley will make public remarks about his retirement at 11 a.m. Friday. We will stream the press conference and update this story once it’s over.
History as chief
Manley was unanimously approved for the police chief position in June 2018, after spending more than a year in the role of interim chief. Manley took on the role of interim chief in December 2016 when former Chief Art Acevedo left for a job in Houston. Hiring a permanent chief was delayed when Austin’s city manager left and a new one had to be hired.
Acevedo released a statement Friday on Manley’s decision.
“Every chief reaches a point in their career where their lifetime of public service comes to an end,” Acevedo said. “In Brian’s case, this comes after the culmination of a career that spanned 3 decades and saw him progress from cadet to chief of police. Brian was instrumental in helping APD transform itself into a 21st Century agency, and despite the constant drumbeat of the critics that APD is broken, he helped to mold it into one of the nation’s premier agencies.”
Manley was in the interim role when Austin was rocked by a series of homemade bombs in March 2018. Two people died and three were injured. Manley and several other agencies and hundreds of officers and agents had worked around the clock to put an end to the Austin bombings, which ended when the bomber blew himself up on I-35.
Reaction to announcement
Council Member Greg Casar released a statement Friday on Manley’s retirement.
“While Chief Manley and I have had major disagreements about the direction of our City, I respect his years of public service and wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Austin City Council Member Greg Casar. “The community is now tasked with choosing the future path of our police department. Our goal must be protecting public safety and civil rights, for all neighborhoods and for people of all backgrounds.”
Gavino Fernandez, Jr. / El Concilio
Mexican-American Land Owners de East Austin and LULAC District 12 want
to thank Cheif Manley, for his service to our community and wish him
luck in his future plans. Manley, after numerous calls from LULAC and
other organizations calling for his firing or his resigination, was
made a reality today. We look forward in working with the City of
Austin in the selection of our next Chief of Police, selection.
Leader of the Mexican-American Land Owners de East Austin and the League of United Latin American Citizens District 12 Gavino Fernandez thanked Manley for his service and wished him luck. LULAC had called for Manley’s resignation earlier in 2020 and said Friday it looked forward to working with the city during the selection process f
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