A study on race relations by the LBJ school in Austin came out in September (while this webmaster was happily overseas on vacation). Despite its unhappy conclusion that race relations in Austin haven't significantly improved, especially between whites and blacks, the report contained good news from the perspective of police accountability advocates. Among the highlights were the following:
These numbers indicate that the constant anti-reform drumbeat pounded out by the city manager and the Austin Police Association is an extremist view fundamentally outside of mainstream Austin opinion, even among whites. We do need reform at APD and the vast majority of Austin's citizens, to judge by this neutral survey, obviously recognize it. Cops can't police the misconduct of other cops; it's obvious to everybody but the police union and the politicians whose sympathies they purchase each election cycle. Austin's Police Oversight Focus Group recommendations -- now under consideration in the "meet and confer" process between the city and the Austin Police Association -- are a severely compromised but positive first step. But this survey shows that Austin citizens support much more significant reforms. Instead the political power of the law enforcment lobby in Austin and at the Legislature successfully thwarts city leaders from adopting a course more representative of their constituents' views. Copies of the report are available at no charge from the Communications Office of the LBJ School at 471-4218.