Police introduce new strategy

Police introduce new strategy

Written by Rachel Youens Tuesday, 07 August 2007

With urban development comes urban problems. A record-setting month of homicides in the city, several in the north Austin area, have increased police and community attention on crime in this region of the city.

“The main change I’ve seen has been in the demographics, but the amount of crime has been pretty consistent,” Austin Police Department’s Lt. Randy Pasley said. “Many people are under the impression we’re doing some big initiatives because there’s an increase in crime, but really we have had significant crime problems in some of these areas for a long time. We’re just at the point now where we’re taking a hard look at the situation and looking for ways to address it.”

The Northwest Austin area is divided by three police area commands, the Northwest, the North Central and the Northeast. Within these command regions, there are smaller district divisions.

For the past seven years, Pasley has worked with north Austin neighborhood associations to tackle crime in the area as head of the Austin Police Department’s north substation.

At monthly neighborhood commander’s forums, he visited with community members about the issues they were seeing, but frequently the meetings were unorganized and he felt little was getting done to mend north Austin problems.

In May, Pasley went for a more holistic solution to the problem by forming the North Austin Coalition of Neighborhoods, designed to bring together all the northern neighborhood association leaders.

“The coalition allows us to address things as a group and to have a bigger voice,” said Anthony Williams, president of the North Austin Civic Association and a member of NACN. “We’re battling inner city issues and trying to fight becoming another inner city story. We welcome the growth and urbanization, but we’re wary of the problems that come with being an urban area.”

NACN made its presence known Aug 3, shortly before National Night Out, with a march through Rundberg to take a stand against crime. New police chief Art Acevedo attended and pledged change for the area.

“Areas such as Rundberg understand that the police are making hundreds of arrests there every year and if we’re as busy as we can be, and we really are, and there are still problems, what’s the missing ingredient?” Pasley said. “It finally occurred to these neighborhoods that maybe the missing ingredient was them.”

Austin experienced six homicides this month, a record number for the city since 2001. Three occurred in north or northeast Austin. The murders have brought increased attention to the crime situation, but Pasley said that homicides remain rare and that smaller crimes are what NACN is working to address.

“I don’t think there’s any spike in crime going on. I’ve been doing this job for seven years and they were saying there was a spike in crime since the day I got here,” Pasley said. “There aren’t necessarily more crimes, but I do believe people are hearing about it more since this summer has brought a record number of homicides.”

Nationally, Austin ranks low in its homicide rate. In 2002, Austin ranked 222 in homicides in a list of U.S. cities, comparable to Portland, Ore. and Duluth, Minn.

Graffiti, theft and burglary are all at the forefront of Pasley’s concern. Two special factors exist in the Northwest Austin area to create a particular environment for problems, the first being the immigrant population.

“Northwest Austin has had a huge influx of immigrants, and often they don’t know what it means to be a good neighbor here,” Pasley said. “We have to communicate to newcomers what those standards and expectations are.”

On the other side of that coin, Williams points out that in his neighborhood, new or illegal immigrants are commonly victims of crimes because they are hesitant to report problems to the police, or they may come from a country where police are feared rather than looked to for safety.

“A lot of the time it’s people from their own community that are victimizing them, because they know that if they are illegal immigrants they fear deportation and will not go to the police,” Williams said.

Homelessness is also a contributor to trouble in the area, Pasley said. In January, a homeless man was found murdered near Wells Branch. Police have since made an arrest in the case.

In the Northwest Command, a Pedestrian Safety Initiative was introduced in July to target public intoxication, standing in roadways and outdoor camping. It is not illegal to panhandle but activities that threaten driver and pedestrian safety are being watched.

“Austin is a generous city,” said Officer Mike Dunn of the Northwest Command. “People give money and it’s not going for what they think it’s going to, which a lot of times is drugs or alcohol.”

Dunn says it is often hard to cite or track the homeless because they frequently do not have ID. Since the initiative started, the department has made contact with 27 people, arrested three and identified 14 into the system.

One suggestion NACN has brought to the police department to solve this problem has been to keep a closer eye on the creeks and parks of Northwest Austin. According to Williams, the homeless population uses the creeks and wooded areas to live and travel.

The Northwest Command is sweeping through camps in woods and roadsides and working in conjunction with TxDOT to clear roadside camps.

NACN has developed its own protocol, bylaws and procedures independent of the regular system for neighborhood associations. These allow NACN to address neighborhood code violations as a cohesive team. Most recently, NACN worked to shut down a drug dealer’s home in the Georgian Estates neighborhood.

“We’ve seen in the past few years a trend with all of our neighborhoods, and we want to take control, not just sit back and watch the neighborhood deteriorate. We’re very activist about where we live,” Williams said.

Often times, Pasley said, the problem can be solved by working with the local businesses that foster problems, such as motels, or by working with the city’s public works department to add lighting or fencing.

“When you see crime, call 911 and get help, but then it’s also important to follow up with ways the community might be able to solve that problem for the future. It’s not always a law enforcement issue; sometimes it’s a matter of making neighborhoods less accommodating to criminals.”

North Austin Command Districts

North Austin covers three different Austin Police Department Districts: Northwest, featured in blue, North Central, featured in yellow, and Northeast, featured in red. The northern commands hold regular Commander’s Forums open to the public. The next forum is Nov. 13, 7 p.m. at the Spicewood Springs Library, 8637 Spicewood Springs Road.

Northwest Command District

• District representative main line: 974-5743
• District Representative main email: nw.dr@ci.austin.tx.us
• A1 & 7. Officer Mike Dunn, 974-5553, Mike.Dunn@austin.tx.us
• A2 & 6. Officer Chris Keen, 974-5852, Chris.Keen@ci.austin.tx.us
• A3 & 4. Officer Joe Maciel, 974, 4289, Joe.Maciel@ci.austin.tx.us
• A5 & 7. Officer John Nelson, 974-5556, John.Nelson@ci.austin.tx.us

Northeast Command District

• District representative main line: 974-5598

North Central Command District

• District representative main line: 974-5722

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