Monday, April 6, 2026, 2 p.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Public Safety Committee
The Public Safety Committee approved minutes from its February 2 meeting and received five briefings: an Austin Police Department training academy update covering Kroll-recommendation compliance and recruiting; an overview of APD alternative response models including a new Community Service Officer pilot; a proposed update to the Austin-Travis County EMS enabling ordinance; an APD sexual assault program overview including reform progress and forensic-exam capacity risks; and an update on public safety dashboards from APD, AFD, and EMS. Three members of the public urged the committee to move forward with the proposed joint emergency communications department before the budget cycle, including by holding a special called meeting in May. The chair confirmed the committee has requested a special called meeting for May. Chief Davis committed APD support to completing 1,300 sex-offender compliance checks by year-end, and staff made several commitments to provide follow-up data.
0:02 Public safety committee meeting to order.
0:05 It is April 6th, 2026 at 2:02 pm uh, this meeting of the public safety committee.
0:12 We, it is at City Hall, located at 3 0 1 west second street, Austin, texas.
0:17 And we have a quorum present vice chair lane.
0:20 Councilman Siegel, councilman uchin.
0:22 And, uh, councilman ari will not be joining us today.
0:25 Uh, we will begin with public communication.
0:27 I will turn it over to joshua qui to call up our speakers.
0:32 Alright, sir, we have maria campos and jacob breach.
0:45 Just jacob breach.
0:56 Good afternoon, council members and Austin public safety staff.
0:59 My name is jacob reach and I'm the chief operations officer at communities and schools of central texas.
1:06 I have a strong history here in Austin, spending many years serving Austin students at the school, at
1:11 the school district, including even a time period where I had direct support with the Austin isd police
1:17 department. Uh, I was also the lead for the Austin isd school safety and security committee during that
1:23 time. And still today, I remain focused on keeping Austin students physically, mentally, and psychologically safe.
1:30 I'm a believer that one of the strongest things we can do for a safe community is to
1:35 have strong, meaningful relationships.
1:38 I am grateful to have such a strong partner in the city of Austin and our police, fire
1:42 service, emergency service, and emergency management teams.
1:46 Thanks to your partnerships, community and schools is able to provide mental health supports directly to austin's children
1:54 at a scale and efficiency that May not be possible through other avenues.
1:59 Our partnership also allows us to provide the male student achievement program at Austin, isd high schools, which
2:06 encourages male students to create a positive brotherhood, to empower them to support and build skills that they
2:11 need to author their own paths of success.
2:15 I'm also excited to talk about a groundbreaking study conducted by the opportunity insight.
2:20 In partnership with ed redesign labs at the harvard graduate school of education, they found that communities and
2:27 schools model empirically improve standardized test scores, raises graduation rates, and increases earnings in adulthood.
2:35 This research was recently featured in the atlantic, and more information can be found on cis central texas
2:41 and cis national websites.
2:43 If you're interested to learn more, probably the easiest thing to do is search just search communities and
2:48 schools. Harvard. It's the first thing that comes up the research titled when resources meet relationships, the return
2:55 to personalized support for low income students demonstrates that that ci s's relationship driven approach drives outcomes.
3:03 Uh, some of the highlights of that include improved test scores, higher graduation rates, and a and a
3:09 strong return on investment for local governmental agencies.
3:12 The study which focused on economic mobility also saw decreased rates of incarceration and higher rates of upward
3:20 mobility, which directly relate to this committee's focus.
3:23 So I want to thank this committee and the city for your continued partnership and our commitment to
3:28 build strong relationships with all of our students to support their social, mental and academic needs in Austin.
3:34 Thank you. Next we have, can I have point of personal privilege?
3:40 Thank you. Um, I just wanna thank you for coming to speak with this committee.
3:44 Um, I, I've had conversations with communities in schools both directly and through the work of the Austin
3:52 public health committee and a variety of others, but there were multiple programs that you just mentioned that
3:57 I was unaware of.
3:57 And I, I really look forward to continuing the conversation around how we can bring, uh, your supports
4:03 to my district. And in particular, I know that you are very effective at connecting students and families,
4:09 um, with programs that are largely unknown in the title one schools in my district.
4:15 And so the ability to bring that capacity building to us in the outlying areas of Austin, um,
4:22 I one look forward to it, and 2:00 am really grateful to know about these specific public safety related
4:27 programs. Thank you.
4:32 Next we have savannah lee, followed by peter hunt, and finally, a loki shaw.
4:52 Hey, y'all. Um, my name is savannah lee.
4:54 I'm with equity action.
4:55 I'm a resident of district one.
4:57 I'm here today about an item that's not on the agenda, but that we believe needs to move
5:00 forward quite quickly, and that is Council Member lane's proposal for a joint emergency communications department council directed
5:06 that this proposal be brought back for review by December 9th, and that deadline has come and gone.
5:11 We are asking you to ensure accountability by calling a special session of the public safety committee in
5:15 May to consider this resolution and get it moved forward.
5:17 This is not a bureaucratic issue, it's a life and death one.
5:20 We support creating a unified emergency communication structure because the way our dispatch system is currently set up
5:26 shapes outcomes before a responder ever arrives.
5:28 And right now, that response is often too slow or incorrect entirely.
5:32 When dispatch sits under law enforcement, the the default response is enforcement that affects how calls are taken,
5:37 how they're categorized, and who gets sent.
5:40 Too often, unless a caller explicitly says mental health, those calls are routed to police instead of the
5:45 appropriate care. In a moment of crisis, people shouldn't have to know the exact language to get the
5:50 help they need. This risk of inaccuracy is made worse when we consider how many community members we've
5:55 heard who are currently scared to call, call in an emergency because they're worried about apds work with
5:59 ice. The city's own audit found that a pd is frequently dispatched to non-criminal mental health calls, and
6:04 that people in crisis here face a higher risk of fatal encounters than incomparable cities.
6:09 These are not isolated incidents.
6:10 They're predictable outcomes of a system that treats health crises as public safety threats.
6:15 Other ci cities have shown a better way.
6:18 Civilian led crisis teams, when paired with strong dispatch systems resolve most calls without police involvement and with
6:23 better outcomes. But those programs only work when dispatch is designed to support them, not default away from
6:28 them. The funding for mental health response last budget cycle was an incredible win, and we're very grateful
6:33 for it. But our response is only as strong as the system that decides it.
6:37 A joint communications department would allow for consistent training, better call routing, and a system that sends the
6:42 right response the first time.
6:44 This accuracy will serve every department including a pd, and ensuring that we are getting it right and
6:48 not wasting resources by responding incorrectly.
6:50 If Austin is serious about preventing future tragedies and building a public safety system rooted in care, we
6:56 have to change the front door to that system, and that starts here.
6:59 Thank you.
7:05 Uh, hello. Um, my name is aoki sha and I'm the president of the united workers of integral
7:10 care. I'm here today in support of the speakers before me, and to urge this commission to take
7:15 up this item at a special meeting in May, and to move forward with the transition of 9 1 1
7:19 out of the Austin police department in time for the upcoming city of Austin budget cycle.
7:23 This timeline matters if we want to ensure this transition is done thoughtfully, smoothly, and with the resources
7:28 needed to build a system that actually works.
7:30 I wanna speak from the perspective of the mental health workers at integral care, those who are on
7:34 the ground responding to these calls every day.
7:36 Austin has made a promise to its residents that if you're experiencing a mental health crisis, you'll be
7:40 met with the right professional, a trained mental health responder equipped to deescalate and provide care.
7:45 But right now, that promise is not consistently being kept because of how our system is structured.
7:50 Dispatch often defaults to a police response, even in situations where a mental health professional or a medic
7:54 would be more appropriate.
7:56 This can happen even when a caller selects the mental health option.
7:59 And that matters because dispatch determines outcomes.
8:02 When someone in crisis is met with the wrong response, the situation can escalate.
8:05 It can lead to injury or even loss of life.
8:08 And beyond that, it can pull someone into the criminal legal system resulting in jail court involvement, fines,
8:13 and long-term barriers to housing and employment.
8:15 And when that same person is instead connected to integral care, the outcome looks very different.
8:20 They're met with skilled deescalation, they're supported in the moment, and they're connected to ongoing care, outpatient services,
8:27 housing support, and pathways to income instability.
8:29 That's how we break cycles of crisis.
8:32 This isn't just better for individuals, it's better for the city.
8:35 Connecting people to good care reduces repeat emergency calls and lowers long-term costs for the taxpayer.
8:40 Austin has already taken important steps to build an alternative response system, and now we have to address
8:46 what's standing in the way.
8:47 One of the biggest barriers is the very first point of contact 9 1 1.
8:51 Creating an independent emergency communications department will help ensure that calls are routed correctly and that the right
8:56 responders is sent the, sent the first time, and that both the community members and first responders are
9:01 safe. This is how we moved.
9:03 This is how we move toward a system that is not only more humane, but more effective and
9:07 more cost efficient. So again, I urge you move this forward call is special meeting in May and
9:12 ensure this is ready for the budget cycle.
9:13 Thank you. Hello, council members.
9:18 My name is peter hunt.
9:19 I'm a volunteer with Austin justice coalition and a resident of district 10.
9:23 Uh, I was also hoping to speak on the item that I expected to be on the agenda
9:27 today regarding the combined emergency response department.
9:30 Um, I obviously wanna echo all the good points made by those who come before me about the
9:34 reasons for doing this, uh, but I wanna speak specifically about the timeliness of this issue, especially in
9:39 the context of the forthcoming city budget later this year.
9:42 Um, that city budget takes up a lot of attention, a lot of, uh, stress for council.
9:48 Uh, and it's something that once it really starts to get rolling, I think it's going to distract
9:52 from a lot of the things that are, uh, could happen in particular, um, this effort to make
9:56 a combined emergency response.
9:58 The next meeting of this committee would be on June 1st, and we are looking at a proposed budget
10:02 coming out in July once that proposed budget, uh, arrives.
10:05 I know councils can be very busy with work sessions and time dedicated almost exclusively to it, certainly
10:10 based on the experiences we had last year.
10:13 This means that if this committee and if council, uh, altogether aren't prompt in addressing this issue, then
10:19 this isn't just gonna get put off for a couple months perhaps, but well into next year.
10:23 Um, that's a really substantial delay for what would be a very advantageous measure.
10:27 One that's good for the city, good for its residents, um, and, uh, it also would lead further
10:32 to a great deal more uncertainty in not only this year's budget, but next year's budget as well.
10:38 Uh, I think it's very valuable that this is on track and we understand sort of what the
10:42 budget ramifications are of a combined emergency response department before we start worrying about, okay, what is the
10:50 2027 budget going to look like?
10:53 Uh, one thing that I really don't wanna be doing is sitting in a budget work session in
10:57 the middle of August fretting about whether it's going to be even legally possible, uh, to make these
11:02 sort of changes given where money needs to be moved from, uh, an a pd, uh, and then
11:07 wondering, okay, well, what carve outs, what considerations do we have to make?
11:10 What do we need to be asking council about in these work sessions in July and August?
11:14 Um, then thinking about next year already.
11:16 So for that reason, I really would encourage you all to have a special call session to advance