Cover-up & Crisis of Leadership

As Michael King so aptly states, "this is not Austin's finest hour."  We have recently witnessed our city commit some of the most egregious actions and inactions regarding the shooting of Nathaniel Sanders  and all the subsequent fall-outs, including: the internal affairs investigations and the suppression of the Johnson report plus the reliance on the biased report by underlings, the POM/CRP process/recommendation, the Chief's discipline - or lack thereof, the KeyPoint independent report and its suppression, and City leaders who have yet answered for these disturbing events.

This is not just about Nathaniel Sanders and the need for justice, this is about broken promises by our city leaders for a more transparent government. And yet, here we are...same as it ever was, perhaps worse.

After seven months of suppressing the independent investigation (or 1/3 of it after redaction), fighting tooth and nail to not release it to the public--the very public the report was geared for--the City of Austin released the full report last Thursday night. The pending lawsuit by Texas Civil Rights Project was the major force to challenge their legal claims. It seems likely the judge was about to rule against the City, or they would have waited for the verdict. Beyond the lawsuit, it took the leak of the Johnson report, then the leak of almost all of the KeyPoint report to the press, much community outcry and the final nail in the coffin was last week's Statesman story on the 2002 amendment to the meet and confer contract still being in effect and if the Sophia King-shooting independent report was releasable (that officer was not disciplined), then this was too. In the story, even the Police Union president and former Chief of Police agreed it would be.

Still--the City answers for none of this. We only have the Acevedo's emotionally-charged statements against critics and the Mayor's dismissive "it's just an opinion" quote, which, after realizing how enormously irresponsible that was (it was a $50,000 opinion!), changed his tune the next day to, "we're going to look into it" -- but why haven't they already?

The Chief, the City Manager and the City Attorney were invited to a community forum this week so we could pose our questions directly to them, but they will not meet with us. The community is instead mobilizing to commonly develop a response to their silence. Broader collaboration will have greater impact.

So this release is very much an admittance that they've been purposely misleading the public about the civil suit's federal protective order and the attorney general's ruling dictating they couldn't release it. WE'VE known all along that was untrue: the order was on the civil suit Plaintiffs (not the City) and the AG ruling spelled out independent investigations could, in fact, be released. So, not only did they only release it because it was already leaked and they had nothing left to hide (too little, too late), but their releasing it without explanation of why the federal order and AG opinion were no longer a factor confirms they were engaged in a systematic attempt to keep the facts of the case disclosed--because the facts were ugly. Not because of the law or contractural obligations.

Perhaps Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project offers the best summary:

"If it's good news about the police, we get to see it, and if it's bad news, we don't get to see it."

Community Meeting on KeyPoint-Gate...What's Next?

WHEN: Wednesday, May 19, 6:00-8:00 pm

WHERE:  5604 Manor  (north of E. 51st/just south of Rogge Ln.)

WHAT: Collaboration on community concerns, questions and action items surrounding the City's recent failings on transparency and accountability.

WHO: All community members & community-oriented groups, facilitated by the Austin Center for Peace & Justice

This will be a facilitated meeting to ensure all voices are heard, with a facilitated process to draw out as much information as possible, to help compare/contrast questions and options on the table.  We'll strive to  consense on a community document that would reflect pertinent questions we still want answered, policy changes we'd like to see made and discipline we'd like handed down.