A city police department has already used 138% of its overtime budget, just six months into this fiscal year. The police department had already paid out roughly $4.9 million in overtime from September 13, 2020, to March 13, 2021.
City Police Department says Staffing Concerns are the Issue
Austin Police Department Chief of Staff Troy Gay says he blames “staffing concerns” for the surge in overtime. “Are are working hard to get people to sign up for the overtime slots,” he said.
New Officers
Extra shifts are taking a toll on officers, he said. That is why he hopes the department could have a training academy to bring on new officers soon. On June 7th, we hope is the start date,” Gay said. He also noted that that request has not been approved in the budget by City Council.
City leaders reviewing a plan for any changes that must be made before any new cadet classes would be reinstating. Presented by City Manager Spencer Cronk, this blueprint, includes steps to establish training courses from certain community members. It would replace training videos that deem outdated or problematic.
City Police Department: Proposed Blueprint
Until commissions can review the proposed blueprint, many of them expressed hesitation about supporting any cadet classes or budget increases. One commission said: “We deserve to see what the plan is.”
Ironically, Support for Police Department Funding Decreased
Support to redistribute police department funding has decreased among Americans since August. This occurred after a summer of protests exploded across the country against racial injustice and police brutality. It was based on a recent Ipsos/USA TODAY poll found.
Black Lives Matters Activists, Protesters
Black Lives Matters activists and protesters did call to “defund the police.” It was due to a call to redistribute police budgets. It was after the deaths of unarmed Black Americans at the hand of police, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Community Social Programs
Getting rid of law enforcement completely what some believe defunding the police is about. However, many activists instead say the slogan behind it is intending to make a more nuanced argument for police budgets. To, in fact, steer them toward community social programs so officers were often required to take on roles better suiting to social workers.
While some think defunding the police is a call to get rid of law enforcement completely, many activists behind the slogan intended to make a more subtle argument for police budgets to be geared toward community social programs so officers were less often required to take on roles better suited to social workers.
The movement known as “defund the police” included only 18% of respondents who supported the movement. Moreover, 58% said they opposed it. In fact, white Americans (67%) and Republicans (84%) were more likely to oppose the movement. Whereas only 28% of Black Americans and 34% of those from the Democratic party were in favor of it.
