Austin's police manpower issues are not quite the same as in other cities, insofar as the local citizenry who are not radical activists are pretty supportive of the police. Rather, it is that the far left city council has refused to give the police a four year contract, insisting on (as I recall) a one-year renewal. This has been the vote of no-confidence, really only between the city council, which is Portland-left, and the police.
Of course, Austin voters have gotten what they deserve on this. The town has filled up with tech employees from the west coast, very affluent and very left, and it has pushed the city government in that direction. The victory of Kirk Watson, the mainstream Democrat who won the local primary for mayor, is an anomaly, insofar as he had previously been mayor a couple of decades back and has widespread name recognition.
Praying that pro-police John Whitmire wins the Mayor primary in Houston rather than anti-police Sheila Jackson Lee. I sent him $100. GOP has no chance in Houston mayor race and I don’t want Houston to end up like Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, etc. I have a friend who is with Sugar Land, TX police department. They all received raises to try to prevent them by being enticed by police raises in the big cities
The long-term net result of the anti-police movement is that we will have to pay policemen a lot more money to be policemen, to compensate them for all the crap they are facing. This might be good. It might lead to an upgrade in the quality and professionalism of our police forces. But in the long run, it will not lead to fewer police, or less policing, or fewer criminals being caught and incarcerated, no matter what the idiots on the left think.
Austin's police manpower issues are not quite the same as in other cities, insofar as the local citizenry who are not radical activists are pretty supportive of the police. Rather, it is that the far left city council has refused to give the police a four year contract, insisting on (as I recall) a one-year renewal. This has been the vote of no-confidence, really only between the city council, which is Portland-left, and the police.
Of course, Austin voters have gotten what they deserve on this. The town has filled up with tech employees from the west coast, very affluent and very left, and it has pushed the city government in that direction. The victory of Kirk Watson, the mainstream Democrat who won the local primary for mayor, is an anomaly, insofar as he had previously been mayor a couple of decades back and has widespread name recognition.
Praying that pro-police John Whitmire wins the Mayor primary in Houston rather than anti-police Sheila Jackson Lee. I sent him $100. GOP has no chance in Houston mayor race and I don’t want Houston to end up like Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, etc. I have a friend who is with Sugar Land, TX police department. They all received raises to try to prevent them by being enticed by police raises in the big cities
The long-term net result of the anti-police movement is that we will have to pay policemen a lot more money to be policemen, to compensate them for all the crap they are facing. This might be good. It might lead to an upgrade in the quality and professionalism of our police forces. But in the long run, it will not lead to fewer police, or less policing, or fewer criminals being caught and incarcerated, no matter what the idiots on the left think.
I hope the City of Austin has to reimburse the state for the additional manpower that wouldn’t normally be there.