The police chief continues to claim he is not able to implement the citation option because small bits of Austin are in Hays and Williamson counties. He repeats, "we can't have three policies," but we don't NEED three policies. Austin police have jurisdiction in every part of the City and Austin just needs one clear policy. Hays County Sheriff deputies can follow whichever policy they choose, just like Travis County has.
In fact, the Travis County Sheriff is implementing the Citation Option, Chief, so it looks like, thanks to you, we currently have two policies in this city. An Austinite who is stopped by APD will be arrested and incarcerated but the same person stopped by the Travis County Sheriff Department will be cited and released.
When the Chief says "he can't" it means "he won't." This long-awaited meeting with our neighboring counties, that won't happen until September, is a delay tactic.
The City of Austin Commission on Immigrant Affairs will meet tonight night (Weds. July 9th) to vote on a similar resolution to the Citation Option, and we've heard that several other organizations are meeting to consider an endorsement.
These groups agree that APD should have an official Citation Option policy in place. Some organizations are seeing APD's failure to implement the Citation Option as directly related to the current meet and confer negotiations - the budget crunch should have us looking at where we can tighten our belts, not entertaining hiring more officers we don't need because APD likes to increase their arrest numbers by arresting people unnecessarily. Neighborhood groups want the officers we do have patrolling, not down at the jail for hours doing paperwork on someone who's license was expired or who was caught with a joint.
Take a look at the organizations that supported the Citation Option bill (HB2391) at the Texas Legislature last year:
* Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT)
* Travis County Commissioners Court
* Travis County Sheriff's Office
* Travis County Sheriff's Law Enforcement Association
* Houston Police Officers Union
* Texas State Lodge & Fraternal Order of Police
* Texas Conference of Urban Counties
* Texans for Public Safety Solutions
* Texas Public Policy Foundation, Center for Effective Justice
* Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
* Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
* Texas Fair Defense Project
* American Civil Liberties Union of Texas
More information can be found at the KeepAustinSafe website.
