AUSTIN, TX — Violent crime is becoming more common in the city of Austin and some of the top leaders are promising to do something about it.
Mayor Steve Adler joined KVUE on Daybreak to talk more about violent crime and other top issues here in Central Texas
Adler: We’ll help by hearing the chief, whatever it is that that he asks to help make it happen. He’s our police chief. And the violence that we see in our city is something that we have to do something about. Understand that this is not something that’s particular just to Austin. It’s happening in cities across the country and we’re all working together, all looking to see what each other is doing. Maybe it’s related to the pandemic that we’ve been going through. Not sure, but everybody is working together because this is something that is literally happening in virtually every city across the country.
Adler: Well, what we did last week was to not change any functions, to not change any people, but to take certain departments and put them under civilian control. So the finance department and the police department is now part of the overall City finance department. As with all other departments, the building services division is now in charge of facilities, as in all other departments, and 9-1-1, 3-1-1, these important emergency call services are now under, again, common operational control. We think it’s going to make the city more efficient. It’s going to help taxpayers and we think it’s going to ultimately improve both the operations and the safety in the city.
