Residents in Austin neighborhood concerned about crime as police department struggles with understaffing
Understaffing in the Austin Police Department in Texas has left residents concerned about crime in the city.
Residents in the Montopolis neighborhood in Austin’s southeast told KVUE-TV crime in their area is getting worse.
Delwin Goss told the station he woke up to gunshots in the neighborhood overnight Thursday, which he said has become shockingly common.
"It’s making the hair on my arms stand up. To hear eight, nine, 10 shots. Just bam, bam, bam. Where are those bullets going?" he said.
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He said his neighbor told him she hears gunshots from her home between two to three times a week.
"I don't want to be shot sleeping in my bed," he added.
And although Austin Police told him when he called they were already investigating, he blames the department’s understaffing problem.
Austin Police Association President Mike Bullock addressed the officer shortage Thursday, writing on X, "500 officers short has a real impact on businesses and Austinites who expect to be able to safely run a business and live in Austin. We’re so close to having a contract that can make significant progress towards ending the staffing crisis. Question now is if the city will actually prioritize making it happen."
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Austin City Council Member Mackenzie Kelly addressed the police understaffing problem this week while speaking on the Austin Police Association’s podcast, attributing it to funding cuts in 2020.
"Our staffing currently at the police department is a direct result of the failed policy that was passed in 2020 to remove funding for the police department," she told Bullock.
"We want a fully staffed department that takes care of our city employees that are loving the work that they do cause then they’re going to do a better job of taking care of the community."
Kelly told KVUE that council members are working to get more officers on the job so residents can feel safe in their neighborhoods.
"He feels as if his part of the district, part of town, is neglected, and I firmly believe that everyone, despite what district they are in, deserves the opportunity to feel safe in their own homes," Kelly told the station.
While the city has brought down the homicide rate since a record of 89 in 2021, it still remains high.
"I think the bottom line is that, over the last three years, we've seen the highest homicide rates we have seen ever in the city," Bullock told FOX 7 earlier this year. "So, either way, no matter which way we look at it, we're not on a good trend. We're headed in the wrong direction."
The city reported 71 homicides in 2022, 73 in 2023 and 42 this year as of Monday, according to KXAN-TV.
In February, the department said the city was experiencing roughly one murder a week, FOX 7 reported.
Austin’s 89 murders in 2021 came after the Austin City Council defunded the police in 2020, which caused massive staffing shortages that prevented police from responding to non-emergency calls. The previous record was 59 in 1984, long before Austin standardized its ambulance services and had the two level one trauma centers it has now.
"I've watched it for the last five, six, seven years, and it just gets a little worse," Goss said. "I see more open drug use in this neighborhood, more drug dealing.
"They’re not out here protecting me or my 85-year-old heart transplant neighbor or the widow that's in her 70s next door," he added.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Austin Police Department and Kelly for comment.