Austin’s dwindling police force is causing concerns about the city’s commitment to public safety.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) was the most prominent official sounding off against the latest announcement of 77 Austin police department officers retiring at the end of March.

In response to this development, Roy tweeted:

This won’t end well, Austin leaders are on notice #SecureOurStreets

So far in 2023, the Austin Police Retirement System (APRS) has signed retirement documents for 50 police officers. On top of that, there are 27 “out of signature” documents per APRS’s executive director Pattie Featherston.

The APRS director continued by noting that there are 309 members of the department who could immediately retire. 171 of these members are fully eligible and 138 have worked for the department for 20 years.

Before 2020, APRS averaged roughly 50 retirements annually, Featherston observed. In 2020, there were 97 retirements, while 2021 and 2022 experienced 116 and 97 retirements, respectively.

Several weeks ago, the Austin city council voted 9-2 to rescind a four-year contract that the city previously agreed to in principle. Instead, the city council pursued a 1-year contract that was rejected by the police union’s board.

Council Member Mackenzie Kelly was the most prominent city council member manifesting concerns about reductions in Austin’s police force. She was one of the two council members who opposed the move to a one-year deal. She was quoted saying about the Austin government’s latest move:

Unfortunately, we are at a point of no return with the Austin Police officers who have left and those who have plans to leave due to how the contract negotiations have played out over the last few weeks.

Since the George Floyd riots of 2020, the Austin city council has presided over a series of budget cuts that have resulted in police cadet classes being reduced and a host of other staffing issues.  Furthermore, several task forces within the police department were scrapped owing to staffing problems. This has resulted in APD largely ignoring several types of crimes and announcing its controversial move to stop responding to non-emergencies.

In 2021, Austin recorded an all-time high for murder, with 89 murders taking place that year. In that same year, 210 police officers retired from the force — a figure that was larger than the two prior years put together.

Austin’s recent rise in crime has sparked a degree of backlash from grassroot organizations. Save Austin Now, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving Austin’s quality of life, has led the way in addressing the city’s rising crime problems. The organization was successful in helping push for the reversal of the city’s controversial homeless encampment policies.

Since then, Save Austin Now has focused on bringing attention to the city’s hostile attitude towards law enforcement and opposing efforts to defund the police department.

Save Austin Now co-founder Matt Mackowiak declared in the leadup to a 2021 ballot initiative that would have re-funded APD:

People here locally do not want to fund defund-the-police efforts. They do not want to defund the police.

The ballot initiative, Proposition A, ended up failing 68.4% to 31.6%. Mackowiak described the results of the ballot proposition as a “disappointment.”

The district Roy represents, the Texas 21st congressional district, spans the area north of San Antonio and a large part of Austin. The latter part of Roy’s district explains his concern with the increasing number of police officer retirements in Austin.

Roy is rightfully concerned about the state of law enforcement in Austin. Over the past decade, there has been a concerted effort to undermine law enforcement and push for policies, such as law enforcement, that jeopardize public safety.

While there is a strong case to root out corruption within police departments and punish police officers who abuse their power, it should not come at the expense of public safety. Law enforcement bodies can be cleaned up, but their defunding and potential abolition — like radical elements of the Left call for — will unleash social chaos like we’ve never seen before.

Cities such as Austin have been marked by a high quality of life. One of its calling cards is its historically low crime rate. All of that could be in jeopardy if anti-police measures continue to be implemented and hostility towards law enforcement does not subside. The Austin city council needs to get its act together if it wants Austin to remain a magnet for America’s most talented and ambitious individuals. Maintaining public order is one of the key features that a city must have to remain attractive in the public’s eye.