Category Archives: Public Safety

Aggravated Deficits

Posted on October 19, 2021 by JGA

This November’s police staffing measure will cost more than official estimates.

Posted in Public Safety | Comments Off

Council Grades 2015

Posted on December 9, 2015 by JGA

How did Council do this year? A review of their policy-making. Priorities word cloud from MAPA Summer survey

Posted in Energy, Fiscal, Housing, Public Safety, Transit, Transportation | Comments Off

Police Ratio

Posted on August 25, 2015 by JGA

The proposed 2015-2016 City of Austin budget increases the number of sworn police officers per capita.

Posted in Fiscal, Public Safety | Comments Off

The study justifying substantial increases in Austin’s police staffing doesn’t present any evidence that its recommendations are the most effective way to reduce crime. Public safety has grown dramatically as a share of total City government spending. The shift happened between … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiscal, Public Safety | Comments Off

Austin’s homicide rate spike

Posted on January 17, 2011 by JGA

The Statesman recently highlighted an increase in homicides from 22 in ’09 to 37 in ’10. While the piece provided a compelling visualization with the long-term count of homicides in Austin, it did not provide data that adjusted for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Public Safety | Tagged austin, austin police department, city council, crime, homicides | 2 Comments

Learning from the Dallas Crime Stat Quality Crisis

Posted on February 9, 2010 by JGA

Grits for Breakfast points out that Dallas is still in hot water over the accuracy of their crime stats. An editorial in the Dallas Morning News gets at the fundamental problem: No doubt [Police Chief David] Kunkle had good intentions … Continue reading →

Posted in Public Safety | Tagged austin, austin police department, crime stats, data quality, gov 2.0 | Comments Off