Dear Neighbors, 

Since my first term, I have been working with survivors to systematically reform how Austin responds to sexual assault. As part of this effort, I commissioned a comprehensive third-party evaluation of the way sexual assaults reported to APD are investigated and processed. The final report was released in November by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in partnership with the Women’s Law Project (WLP) and the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW).  This report provides clear guidance on how we can further improve our sexual assault response system in a survivor-focused way. I believe that how APD and the City build on this analysis will determine our ability to restore trust with the community.

The evaluation emphasized the need to work smarter and outlined several ways to do that: formalizing training for officers joining the Sex Crimes Unit; requiring detectives to try more than just once to contact a survivor before suspending a case; and involving the Victim Services division in training, policy making, and response. The report further identified the need to prioritize felony cases, align detective schedules with when most assaults are reported, provide better supervision, enhance coordination with the DA’s office, and update evidence collection protocols. Many of these are simple, easy changes that can help detectives better investigate reports and provide the service and attentiveness survivors deserve; many are already under way based on early recommendations provided to APD by the evaluation group.

Notably, in the final report and when I spoke with the authors in August pre-budget, the authors very explicitly did not call for investments in dozens more detectives as the most pressing challenge. Instead, the emphasis was on re-thinking our systems to be more survivor-centered.

The PERF report did identify the need for new financial resources, which I secured during this summer’s budget adoption process based on a preliminary financial report. These included funding for vehicles for APD’s sex crimes and victim services units, an increase to the victim emergency fund, a dedicated analyst for the sex crimes unit, an annual case review, additional training funds, and more. Based on an early report out from the PERF team and in response to a lawsuit settled in January, other financial based needs and procedural changes have been addressed over the last few years.

As a woman, a mother, and a policy maker, I believe the City has a responsibility to learn from our past failures– the DNA backlog, a high number of “exceptionally cleared” rape cases, and an under-resourced sex crimes unit. The report highlighted several improvements over the course of the study period, including how the City had addressed the deficiencies with respect to DNA, case coding, and computer access. The report also recognized that our Victims Services Unit sets the standard as a best practice in responding to and supporting victims and survivors of sexual assault. 

APD is now tasked with implementing the report recommendations and will provide a plan to Council early in the new year. I believe that Austin can become a model for other cities seeking to prevent and improve their responses to sexual assault, but we must keep listening and we must be committed to the systemic changes identified. We owe that to the survivors who fought for so long to be heard.

To learn more, I invite you to watch my recent video or to read these recent articles in Community Impact and the Austin American Statesman. You can review the final report here.

In the remainder of this letter, you will find grant opportunities, cold weather safety tips, tools to reduce your household waste this holiday season, and more. I will provide an update on recent Council meetings in my next newsletter. I wish you and your family a peaceful end to 2022.

Regards,