Following nation wide protest centered on police reform and cries from activists to defund police departments, Austin’s City Manager Spencer Cronk is proposing Austin’s police Department cut 100 staff/officer positions and slash the police budget by $11.3 million dollars.
At a special meeting, CM Cronk told City Council the funds shifted away from the department will be reallocated to other areas around the public safety sector. He said those funds will help create 7 new community health paramedics, and further strengthen other departments like the office of police oversight and city equity office with more funding and staff.
Cronk said the budget also allows for more funding for mental health support, family violence prevention, and Immigrant legal aid. However the budget does add something to the police department, training, Cronk explained, “on trauma informed response, unconscious bias, racial and cultural sensitivity, and on the use of noloxone for people experiencing a drug overdose.”
In addition to the proposed changes, Cronk said they are also creating a new civil rights office in the city’s law department.
