The Issue with APD’s Overtime Gold Rush

Not everyone worries about Austin’s growing shortage of officers and detectives. Some are completely fine with it.

Last year, looking for a solution to get officers to work late evening and night shifts, APD began paying not just regular overtime, but double overtime for shifts beginning after 5:00pm.

Before this, late evening and night shifts struggled to maintain staffing. After all, why would anyone choose to work an evening or night shift when they could earn the same time and a half overtime rate working an easier day shift or security assignment?

But since the program started, late patrol shifts have had no problem finding people to fill vacancies. After all, agreeing to work for the regular pay scale is one thing, but doubling that? It’s no surprise that APD officers have become some of the highest paid city employees.

So what’s the issue?

But with serious pay being offered, why can’t APD retain employees? APD has around 1,460 officers, a noticeable and growing distance from the previously authorized staffing of 1,962 officers.

The first reason is arguably the District Attorney. Jose Garza has single-handedly driven down staffing with his mission to indict as many officers as possible, even if there was, well… no reason to indict in the first place. That Garza keeps losing and dropping cases against officers is of little consolation to people deciding whether to apply to, stay with, or leave APD. High pay is useless in jail.

The second reason is the City Council. For whatever reason, Council members have gone out of their way to be at odds with officers, voting down one labor contract and then another, taking away valuable resources, cancelling cadet classes, and finding new ways to make officers’ jobs more difficult.

The County Attorney Delia Garza likely comes in third. Why take the risk enforcing trespassing, theft, street-level drug crimes, and assault only to see the arrest blocked at the jail or the charges dismissed? According to Travis County misdemeanor case data for 2023:

• 3 DWI arrests are dismissed for every 1 conviction
• 4 theft cases are dismissed for every 1 conviction
• 80% of family violence cases dismissed
• Only 1 conviction for a drug-related offense. All others were dismissed.

How high will pay go?

There is plenty of room for APD’s pay to go higher. Even after voting down the 2023 labor contract, Council still gave officers a 4% pay raise – no negotiation required. Why was that?

In previous years, pay raises were negotiated under labor contracts between the union and the City. But unless Council overrides Prop A, there will never be another labor contract (more on that shortly).

This puts the staffing ball in Council’s court. Want more cops, faster response time, and more cases solved? If support, praise, respect, recognition, and a better work environment for employees are not on the table, pay is the only lever Council has left to boost staffing.

APD’s staffing continues to sink, and only loud and noticeable pay raises, like Tarrant County’s 7% raise, will be effective at attracting and maintaining a workforce.

Department of mercenaries?

Ideally, you want to employ a department of officers who do the job because they take pride in keeping the community safe, enjoy their work environment at the department, like their city leadership, and believe the pay is good enough.

Austin’s political leadership has decided to indict as many officers as possible, stamp out morale, make the workplace difficult, discourage the enforcement of laws, and dismiss as many criminal cases as officers can put in the work (and personal risk) to make.

So why be a cop in Austin?

High pay will motivate people to work difficult jobs and endure dispiriting workplace conditions. But if pay is the only reason people apply for or stay at APD, the end result will be a department of mercenaries.

We saw this throughout the United States’ two decades in the Middle East. When patriotism and small reenlistment bonuses weren’t enough of a recruiting tool to maintain a large enough army, private military companies stepped up… for a substantial price. Plenty of soldiers sought out the substantial pay increase through PMC’s to do the same job they used to do as lower-paid, regular duty military personnel.

But as quickly as the PMC’s form, they disappeared when the money stops.

APD personnel who are not motivated by money will pick up extra shifts to help out with staffing shortages, but only to a limit. 50-60 hour workweeks are simply not sustainable for first responders, and burnout will reduce people back to a 40 hour workweek. Asking for increasing work out of people who are not motivated by pay is not a viable solution, either.

Ultimately, overtime pay-related staffing improvements will be short-lived. As soon as the overtime budget is cut back, the same staffing will vaporize. If another agency offers better pay or Council refuses to give attractive annual raises, the mercenaries will leave.

A better way forward

APD’s staffing will never improve until Austin voters and City Hall decide public safety is a priority.

Council has to fix Proposition A if they ever want to bring back the benefits of labor contract bargaining.

Why is that?

For one, Prop A’s subtle language allows career felons to serve on the Community Police Review Commission (“No other eligibility requirements may be instituted…”, 2-15-4(E)). Giving felons unfettered access to law enforcement records is simply a non-starter.

Second, Prop A prohibits employees from filing grievances regarding wrongful disciplinary outcomes (2-15-7). This is whole point of even having labor protections. Why would anyone agree to a labor contract that eliminates protection from wrongful disciplinary action?

These are simply poison pills that will have to go. Otherwise, Austin will remain under Chapter 143 for the foreseeable future.

If Austinites want more officers and an end to the revolving door of violent crime, they will have to be pickier with who they elect. A new District Attorney that isn’t hostile to APD officers and who is willing to throw the book at repeat violent criminals will have to be elected.

If Austinites want public disorder, violence, property crime, and quality of life crimes reduced, they will have to vote for a new County Attorney.

Otherwise, if the City cannot provide police services, the State of Texas will likely step in, take over the Department, and run it themselves. With DPS increasingly patrolling Austin, a State takeover is becoming only a pen stroke away.