Report Highlights Austin Police Department Racial Bias

AUSTIN, TX — A community report released on Tuesday identifies various patterns of racial bias and stereotypes in Austin Police Department training materials, according to a city council member.

District 4 Austin City Council member Greg Casar outlined key findings of the community report covering the gamut of police machinations — from academy training to use of force.

“Community members have released this important report that validates the testimony we heard from former police cadets dating back to 2019,” Casar said in a prepared statement. “We should train our police to treat all people equally, regardless of race or income. We have temporarily suspended police classes until our training is improved to meet the expectations of the community: fairness, equal treatment, and professionalism. Classes should resume once we have met this community standard.”

Excerpts from the community report include:

• “There was gross overrepresentation of the use of force and negative outcomes from mostly white male officers interacting with Black and brown community members. We witnessed again and again mostly Black men dying within minutes, sometimes within seconds, of an interaction with police.”
• “Many of the videos showed people of color, and in particular, Black people, being brutalized and/or their well-being utterly disregarded.”
• “The pattern we witnessed was that white community members in crisis are allowed to be in crisis; whereas Black community members, whether in crisis or not, are perceived with suspicion as threats.”
• “There was a clear pattern, both explicit and implicit, of different communities being offered different degrees of understanding and grace by officers. Police interactions with upper-class, white communities were noticeably absent in the videos. White people were often given considerable grace and understanding even when they demonstrated dangerous behavior, while people of color, in particular Black men, were given little to no grace or understanding even for minor and less threatening actions.”

As part of the process for reviewing the Austin Police Department Training Academy videos, a facilitator report was filed in addition to a community member report.

• Community member report: Austin City Council Resolution 66: Austin Police Department Training Video Review Panel
• Facilitator report: Community Video Review Panel - Austin Police Department Training Academy Videos.

For more details, read the full APD Training Videos Community Review Report.