Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday said the recent election made it clear the community does not want police officers to actively enforce drug and traffic laws. So, he is telling association members to only respond to the calls they are assigned to moving forward. “What I'm telling my guys is, ‘Answer your calls and that is it,” said Casaday
Casaday said he thinks it's time for officers in the city to stop actively enforcing non-violent crimes because that’s what city leaders and the public seem to want, Fox 7 reports.
“They don't want an active police department. They don't want us enforcing traffic laws. They don't want us arresting people that don't want us or messing with homeless folks. They're very clear and we're going to take their lead. The productivity in the city's going to die,” Casaday said.
As the polls closed Tuesday, and Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore conceded to challenger Jose Garza, Casaday said he and his members realized the community may not support law enforcement as much as they used to.
“The public just voted to put in someone to the district attorney's office that ran on prosecuting police and not prosecuting drug crimes, or hardly any other crimes, so that spoke very loud and clear what the citizens of Travis County want,” said Casaday.
