AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Austin’s city manager is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to review the force’s tactics and relationship with the community amid six officer-involved shootings this year.
City Manager Marc Ott told the Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/16xlasM ) that his request is a follow-up to a previous policy review by the DOJ, which brought about 165 recommendations and many changes at the Austin Police Department in 2009.
Three of this year’s officer-involved shootings were fatal, most recently the death last month of Larry Jackson Jr.
Ott’s letter to the Justice Department asks it to interview community leaders and neighborhood forums on ways to improve trust and confidence in police.
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond. Austin police officials say they would welcome a review and cooperate.
Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole, the city’s only African-American city council member, agreed with Adam Loewy, an attorney hired by Jackson’s family, who wants the DOJ to look specifically at Jackson’s death.
“We need to ask the DOJ to investigate whether the actual tactics used in this case were consistent with the policies and procedures of APD,” she said.
Assistant Chief Brian Manley said he thinks the city’s officers are conducting themselves professionally according to training.
“Obviously issues happen at times, and when they do, those are the ones that we take a look at,” he said.
Between 2007 and 2011 the DOJ looked into whether the department was routinely violating federal laws. It made the 165 recommendations but found “no reasonable cause to believe” the department engaged in a “pattern, or practice that violated the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
One of the recommendations was on how officials review use-of-force incidents.
