Requesting public information from Austin police? You may be waiting a while. Here's why.

If you file an open records request with the Austin Police Department, you might have to wait significantly longer to receive that information than if you sought records from another city department.

An audit found the Police Department has a backlog of nearly 20,000 public information requests, largely because its staff to handle these requests is 20 times smaller than that of the city's — even though the Police Department receives double the number of requests per year compared with the city.

These findings were presented to the Austin City Council Audit and Finance Committee on Wednesday. The audit also found that the lack of a uniform approach to its public information requests gives the appearance that the city is not transparent.

An expert in Texas open government laws said the audit was a sign that the city is working toward transparency — a development that is particularly vital for highly requested information related to public safety — but there are ways the city can make some information more accessible.

"People have a right to stay informed about their government through access to public information," the audit states. "The City of Austin does not take proactive measures to make it easy to access that information."

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How are public information requests handled in Austin?

The handling of public information requests is split between city services and the Police Department. For the city, the legal department, with a staff of about 120, handles those requests. For police, those requests are handled by a separate staff of six people.

Public information requests for the city are governed by the Texas Public Information Act, which states that requests should be filled "promptly." In Austin, the public files requests for the city or the Police Department in writing through an online portal.

When such a request for police information is filed online, a message shows that the "anticipated timeframe" for a response to requests is 45-60 days due to the large number of requests.

Delays and discrepancies in how information is given reinforce the idea that the city is trying to hide publicly available information from its citizens, the audit found. Overall, 56% of requestors who were surveyed gave the city a failing grade on transparency.

"They don't want citizens learning about what their government is up to and spending its money on," one person surveyed wrote.

What's in the audit?

From 2018 to 2022, the audit found that 75% of public information requests were closed on average within 21 days for the city and 34 days for the Police Department. However, a quarter of all requests were closed on average within 88 days by the city and 460 days by the Police Department.

In this four-year period, Austin received nearly 120,000 public information requests. City services received nearly 39,300 public information requests, compared with the 82,100 requests sent to the Police Department.

The audit noted that Austin police are responsible for more than double the number of public information requests with about 5% of the staff size.

Additionally, there's no consistent procedure for how information is found, what information should be redacted and training for employees, the audit said. This has led to some information that should have been redacted, usually from the Police Department, being released to the public.

The audit also found that the city could reduce the number of requests by posting frequently requested information online.

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What's the city doing with this information?

The audit included recommendations for the city to improve its functions, including centralizing management for both the city and Austin police. This is expected to be done in October.

The city also plans to look at addressing the backlog of requests, but that plan is not expected to be developed until February 2024, according to the audit.

Deborah Thomas, deputy city attorney for Austin, said the city is creating a leadership team with staff and managers from both the city's and the Police Department's public information request offices.

She said this group will formulate plans to address these issues, along with looking at how to increase staff for the Police Department's public information request team.

"That's going to be one of our biggest challenges," Thomas said at Wednesday's committee meeting.

Thomas said it was unclear how many staff members the Police Department needs, and determining that number would be part of the work of the new leadership team.

There could also be a chance for some public information requests sent to the Police Department to be automated, Thomas said, because many are routine requests.

Auditors also noted that training is done differently for the city and Austin police, which can create discrepancies. Under the new centralized management, Thomas said the training will be standardized for both.

Thomas said posting regularly requested information online might not be an option because duplicate requests are rare, and many are tailored to an individual.

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What do experts say about the findings?

Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said it's good that the city did this audit and wants to improve transparency.

The foundation regularly hears about governments releasing information slowly, Shannon said. Sometimes it's because governments are trying to delay the disclosure of information, and other times it's because they are short-staffed and have a high volume of requests.

Police records often lead to the largest number of public information requests in a city, Shannon said, so it's imperative that cities provide equitable resources to fill those requests. These requests are often used for traffic accidents, crime victims and researching crime in a neighborhood, she said.

Other Texas cities have separate public information channels for the city and the police department, but she said it doesn't always lead to greater efficiency.

She advised against the Austin Police Department issuing a blanket notice stating that requests could take 45 to 60 days to fill. Generally, if a record can't be provided in 10 days, the agency should tell the requestor how long it's going to take to fill that request and that it should be done "promptly and without delay."

She added that the city can post some information online, such as crime logs or the front page of initial reports, to lower the number of requests that it receives.

"If they get on with these recommendations to improve their system, that's a good thing," Shannon said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin police public information office has backlog of 20,000 requests