APD staffing shortage continues with over 330 sworn officer vacancies

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department has about 330 vacant sworn officer positions, according to the department.

This is slightly down since APD's second quarter report, which had 342 sworn officer vacancies.

During a Public Safety Commission meeting Monday, APD Chief of Staff Jeff Greenwalt said staffing troubles continue in the department. APD has 463 vacancies among sworn, civilian and emergency communications-civilian positions, according to the third quarter report.

The downtown area command had the highest staffing rate among all command areas in APD's jurisdiction with about 80% staffing, as of a June 24 update.

This is followed by the central area command with about 66% of positions filled, the north patrol with about 57% staffing and the northwest patrol with about 56% staffing.

The areas with the lowest staffing are the east patrol with about 55% staffing and the south patrol with about 54% staffing rate.

In 2024, APD is expected to graduate about 115-120 cadets into probationary officers in 2024, Greenwalt said. 25 cadets graduated in January, 39 cadets graduated in April and there are 58 cadets in the class scheduled to graduate in September.

"This could be the first year since 2019 where we end up with more officers than we lose," he said.

Increased staffing can also help reduce response times, Greenwalt said, which have been three to four minutes over the department's 10-minute goal during the past three months.