Austin City Council will vote Thursday on a plan to reinstate the city’s police training academy by early June.
On Tuesday, city leaders heard from City Manager Spencer Cronk, who created a blueprint for restarting cadet classes. The blueprint lays out necessary changes that must be made before the academy starts, such as finalizing replacements for outdated and problematic training videos and bringing in a variety of community members to help teach courses.
The Austin Police Department will be expected to follow this plan to reopen the academy. (Photo: City of Austin)
The Greater Austin Crime Commission says new cadets are desperately needed, as the Austin Police Department will have more than 100 vacant officer positions by the end of this month. The commission’s executive director, Cary Roberts, points to increasing crime rates and slower police response times over the past year, KXAN reports.
In Tuesday’s discussion, Cronk told council members even if his proposal passes Thursday, APD will still have to meet the dozens of requirements in the plan before the start of June, or the academy would not start.
