Texas Governor Signs Pro-Police Pledge After Austin Defunding

AUSTIN, TX — Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday signed a pledge to reiterate his opposition to cities seeking to defund police along with a legislative proposal designed to protect such funding by exerting state control on such measures — a move prompted by recent cuts to the police budget approved by the Austin City Countil.

Abbott signed the dual measures during a press conference staged at 2 p.m. The governor has been vocal in opposing recent Austin City Council action in stripping the Austin Police Department of $150 million in funding. While the council's action did not remove the police department's most critical operations, it called for transferring some duties — dealing with the homeless and interacting with suspects in the throes of mental illness, to name two measures — to social service agencies thoroughly trained for such duties.

Calls for local police reform have grown since the police killing of Michael Ramos outside a South Austin apartment complex in late April. A caller erroneously told police Ramos was armed while ingesting drugs, but the man was found to be unarmed after being fatally shot by police. The following May, the killing of George Floyd — who died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes while he was detained on the ground — further heightened police reform activists. An ensuing protest in downtown Austin protesting the killings led to serious injuries of two protesters after both were hit in the head by non-lethal projectiles, adding to protesters' ire against police.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler responded to Abbott's pro-police pledge, calling the move by Abbott as politically motivated. He also suggested arguments decrying the council-led defunding moves by critics are reductive, and have been overblown by critics.

"To be clear, Austin City leaders have neither defunded the police department nor support doing so," Adler said in a prepared statment. "I'm unaware of any elected official who believes differently. The Governor’s pledge is political theatre intended to scare and distract us from important public safety conversations about opening our children’s schools and saving lives during the pandemic or whether police should be mental health first responders and social workers."

Adler referenced the low crime rate in Austin as compared to other big U.S. cities in buttressing city officials' commitment to oversee an effective police force: "Austin is the safest big city in Texas and among the few safest in the country," the mayor said. "We’ll continue to make an already safe city even safer and, importantly, safer for everyone. As we get closer to November, expect more distractions that intend to divide rather than unite."

The Texas Democratic Party was more strident than the mayor in reacting to Abbott's news conference, calling it nothing more than a politically motivated photo opp: "It’s nonsensical and a weak attempt to try to look tough in front of the cameras. Abbott can make all of the pledges he wants, but the reality is, Texans know what the real issues affecting their daily lives are."

Like Adler, officials of the Democratic Party pointed to other critical issues to which Abbott should place focus in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic: “Nearly 14,000 Texans have died from COVID-19. 3.4 million Texans have filed for unemployment since March. The short term fix of $300 unemployment insurance expansion for Texans unemployed due to the pandemic, runs out today. Systemic racism continues to plague our state and our country and threatens the lives of Black Americans and people of color. Abbott didn’t mention any of these issues today during his fear-mongering, photo-op of a press conference."

And like the Austin mayor, the Democrats painted Abbott's news conference as a political ploy ahead of the upcoming November general election: “We want leaders who will protect and preserve the Affordable Care Act, expand Medicaid, and ensure that Texans everywhere are getting the coverage they need. We want leaders who understand that America’s promise is not fulfilled until we all are safe, secure, and have the opportunity to prosper. We want leaders who will listen to doctors and scientists, instead of right-wing donors and lobbyists. We want leaders who will respect local communities. And, we want leaders who will fight for Texans instead of looking out for Donald Trump. "

In its statement, the Texas Democratic Party contrasted Abbott's initiative with its own, dubbed the Texas First Pledge. “If Abbott cares so much about Austin city politics, he should run for Mayor of Austin, and we will look forward to ending his political career."

This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch