On August 15, the Downtown Austin Alliance hosted its virtual Safety Forum, a monthly meeting in collaboration with public officials to provide the downtown community information on downtown safety, crime trends data, safety initiatives and more.
Austin Police Department Updates
At the forum, Austin Police Department Commander Craig Smith discussed the current APD staffing levels, which currently reside at 358 overall vacancies. As an increased police budget was just adopted at a recent city council budget meeting, Commander Smith noted that part of the budget will go towards increasing their recruiting efforts and retaining more officers. While the Downtown Area Command currently has the highest staffing levels out of all of the APD sectors, they are experiencing their lowest staffing levels yet, sitting at a 73% vacancy rate (compared to their average 80% rate).
Commander Smith shared that cell phone theft is on the rise downtown, as are theft and burglaries in parking lots and garages. While APD continues to work with the City of Austin on a new police contract, Commander Smith highlighted the importance of calling 911 to report all crimes, as the call data is used to determine officer deployment and to contact your local council member to express support for the new police contract.
The University of Austin
Curtis Guilbot, chief operations officer at The University of Austin, joined the forum to discuss the opening of the first new university in Texas in 63 years. Guilbot shared that The University of Austin (UATX), a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, located in the heart of downtown Austin on Congress Avenue, is focused on student safety downtown as the institution will be home to more than 100 students this fall. The undergraduate program includes four areas of study: Computing and data science; economics, politics and history; ethics and politics; and literature and creative writing. The university has introduced a built-in talent network for students and alumni to receive guidance, mentorship and potential job placement post graduation.
Downtown Crime
The Downtown Austin Alliance provided a mid-year crime update from January to June of 2024 for the Public Improvement District, highlighting that crimes against persons have decreased since 2019 and property crimes have remained flat since 2023. Bill Brice, senior vice president of investor relations at the Downtown Austin Alliance, noted that although crimes against society (such as drug violations and gambling) have increased significantly, this is due to the increase in APD enforcement surrounding drug crimes.
Downtown Homelessness Updates
In addition to crime statistics, the Downtown Austin Alliance released data on their most recent count of people living unsheltered in the Downtown PID. The Downtown Alliance conducts counts to estimate the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness downtown every quarter. As of July 2024, there were an estimated 470 living unsheltered downtown. The data reveals an 8% increase from the April 2024 count, however it was noted that the number is consistently higher during summer months.
HEART Austin Updates
This week, the Austin City Council approved funding to expand the HEART Austin pilot that the Downtown Austin Alliance started to a year-round outreach program. The success of the 6-month pilot that began February 1, led the Downtown Alliance to extend the pilot through September to ensure there is no lapse in service ahead of the start of the city’s fiscal year October 1. The city and Downtown Alliance will now work to expand HEART outreach to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for a larger downtown service area.
Data collected from the program in the first sixth months (Feb. 1-July 31) revealed 1,336 total interactions with people experiencing homelessness, 106 people who were accepted into shelter placements, 53 were reunified with their families and 2,443 social service activities were provided, including meals, clothing and hygiene kits.
Join Us for More
The next Safety Forum is scheduled for Thursday, September 19 at 8:30am. Register for the September Safety Forum here.