AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- The war of words over a now-suspended partnership between the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety continued Thursday afternoon.
In a late afternoon tweet, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he will deploy an additional 30 troopers in the city to "protect and serve," bringing the total to 130. "We will do all we can to keep the streets of Austin safe," Abbott said.
That development followed a brief tweet from DPS Wednesday night, saying troopers would continue to patrol the city, in spite of the suspension of any formal partnership with APD.
Around 100 troopers have been deployed in Austin during the times the partnership has been active. In addition to 80 troopers on the streets, 20 Criminal Investigations Division officers have also been part of the DPS force in the city. The now 130 troopers are above and beyond any deployed at the Capitol or other state buildings.
The city, in a press release issued Wednesday morning, said the partnership between APD & DPS was being suspended due to "recent events." In several interviews, Watson pointed to the story of south Austin resident Carlos Meza, who was pulled over along with his 10-year old son, and alleged that troopers pointed their guns at both of them.
Wednesday, DPS released body camera video detailing the events surrounding the Meza incident, showing that troopers had their guns drawn but never pointed them at his son.
In a Thursday afternoon briefing at City Hall, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson appeared to walk back an assertion that the Meza incident specifically led to the end of the APD-DPS partnership. He also pushed back on allegations that the decision to end the partnership was made in haste, before the full facts were known.
When pressed on what exactly prompted the decision to end the partnership, Watson refused to elaborate. “There are a variety,” said Watson. “I’m not going to go into all the details of everything," he continued, saying "we decided that this was the right time" to end the partnership.
“Good government is when you’re willing to attempt things that may be innovative, that haven’t been done, that are subject to criticism, and you work to calibrate them and work to make them better, and you’re willing at the appropriate time to say, ‘I’m going to try something else,’” said Watson. “That is a sign of good government, a sign of good leadership."
Watson continues to emphasize that he feels the best solution to the problem is to find ways to hire more officers into APD, where the total number of vacancies is now at more than 330.
The department has been working without a contract since the end of March, after City Council members set aside a four-year proposal negotiated by former City Manager Spencer Cronk. Council members looked to wait until after the May election, which featured two items focused on police oversight, before making any long-term commitments.
Voters approved Proposition A in May, which looks to strengthen the city's Office of Police Oversight - however, under state law, the city can only coerce some of the oversight obligations into effect through an approved contract.
"We need to get to a contract, a long-term contract with the police union. It is beyond time for the president of the police union to not stand on the sidelines and throw stones, and instead come back to the table," said Watson. "The best way for the police union leadership to demonstrate respect for the people that he says he wants to represent and wants to serve is to come back to the table so that we can negotiate a contract, and that in my view, would be the number one way we can address our policing shortage."
Austin Police Association Thomas Villarreal responded to Watson's comments Thursday afternoon, saying the APA "will not be forced into negotiating a contract under the duress of Proposition A that could have been avoided had Council operated with common sense and good judgement earlier this year."
Villarreal continued, calling on Watson to "publicly acknowledge the role he played in the failure of City Council to seriously consider and vote on the tentative agreement."
