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In the first week of the joint operation by the Austin Police Department (APD) and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to increase safety in the Capital City, the number of violent crimes dropped 25 percent from the average weekly number of violent crimes for the past year. In areas of the city where DPS officers were specifically deployed due to a high volume of calls for assistance, APD recorded a 58 percent reduction in violent crime. Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon, along with Austin Police Chief Data Officer Dr. Jonathan Kringen provided a public update today on the progress of the partnership, following a status report issued by Chacon and Interim City Manager Jesús Garza to Mayor Kirk Watson and the City Council on Thursday. “APD currently has over 300 vacant officer positions,” Chacon said in a memo to the Mayor and Council. “This unprecedented staffing challenge has led to longer wait times in response to calls for assistance, more traffic injuries and fatalities, and an increase in gun crime. The fact is, we have fewer officers now than we had 15 years ago. The partnership with DPS is a valuable and innovative measure to increase public safety while efforts to build back and build up the police force are underway.” As part of the collaboration, DPS officers are assisting with traffic enforcement, but also deploy daily to areas where the highest number of emergency calls for assistance originate. Troopers also patrol major roadways that traffic analysis has identified as locations where speeding, reckless driving, DWIs, injury crashes and traffic fatalities are most prevalent, with the goal of saving and protecting lives. Since the beginning of the joint operation, DPS has conducted 4,016 traffic stops with a focus on interventions and warnings, writing tickets in only about 25 percent of these instances. “Deploying DPS to specific areas of the city where violent crime is occurring is proving successful,” Chacon said. “APD will continue to track these numbers and anticipate a continued trend of decreasing violent crime rates, though numbers may vary week-to-week. In situations where DPS is the first on scene of a crime or crime-in-progress, DPS has been gaining control of and securing the scene and awaiting APD arrival so APD can be the lead on investigations.” Determining areas of the city – in real time – that are experiencing the highest rates of calls for assistance involving violence is an example of the data-driven tactics APD and DPS are leveraging. DPS troopers provide traffic patrol in these areas, but also serve as a crime deterrent and are available to respond quickly when a crime is committed. The initial results are encouraging. There was an average of 89 violent crimes a week in Austin last year. In the first week of the APD/DPS partnership, the number of violent crimes was 67 – a 25 percent decrease. Violent crimes include aggravated assault, murder, sexual assault, and robbery. Response times have also decreased in the past two weeks, dropping by as much as two to seven minutes, depending on the type of call. APD shared the following important details:
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