After a controversial police shooting in Austin, Texas, The Austin-American Statesman ran a series of very negative articles on the use of force among Austin officers. This is a letter from the ten officers who were repeatedly singled out in the newspaper as most inclined to use excessive force.Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to your recent series on the use of force by officers in the Austin Police DepartmentOne of your articles identified us as the ?Top Ten? officers in the use of force statistics you compiled.
The ten of us, like most officers, gravitated to police work for noble reasons. We looked forward to a profession that would allow us to directly serve the public, interact with a variety of people, and be in a position to truly be able to serve and protect members of the community. We have long recognized the burdens that come with 'the job.? We knew that police officers have historically high rates of alcoholism, divorce, and suicide. We never expected to get rich through this career. We knew that we would often have to work inconvenient hours and long shifts. We fully expected to spend days and nights standing in driving rain, freezing winds, and blazing heat. We knew that we would be cursed at, spit on, kicked, and punched. We fully expected to chase people, get shot at, and that some of us would lose our lives. We knew and accepted the fact that our actions would routinely be scrutinized under the most powerful of microscopes. Despite all those drawbacks, the calling to our profession was stronger. We accepted all of that and became part of one of the most honorable professions in the world . . . we became police officers.
Unfortunately, we now know we only saw half of the ?danger? in our job before we got here. As Ron DeLord, president of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT) recently said, ?We are fully prepared to be scrutinized, but we are not prepared to be crucified.?We never expected to be publicly humiliated just because we did our job the way it needed to be done. Being unfairly second-guessed by the media and our public officials is embarrassing. We are sent out to fight crime in a lawful manner, but look what happens when we do. The last two weeks have proven very trying for the officers of the Austin Police Department, especially the ten of us and our families. The only encouragement we have had is the overwhelmingly positive e-mails, letters, and phone calls from citizens. That support reminds us that we are here for a reason. We are here to protect people from murderers, robbers, sexual predators, spouse abusers, gang members, drug dealers, and thieves. We have to break up fights by going into large crowds where we are greatly outnumbered. In the process of apprehending many of these criminals, we must use force. Some arrests require more force than others. As much as some might like to deny it, there are people who would rather die than go to prison. Drug dealers would rather fight us than go to jail willingly. Many people will put up great resistance before they are finally handcuffed. Officers do not know what is going on in the mind of someone who is resisting. We cannot know how much alcohol or drugs they have taken before we had any contact with them. In many arrest situations, we are put in a position in which we must use force to protect ourselves or those around us. Sometimes officers must use deadly force. No police officer hopes for it, but all are trained and ready for it. We are always prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure we go safely home to our families. We accepted this reality when we signed on. All ten of us have faced danger as police officers. Each of us has been truly scared at some point in our career. And yet, like the other 1200 Austin Police officers who proudly work beside us, we overcame that fear and performed the duty we swore to fulfill. We do a job that requires us to rush into situations that most would avoid at all costs. All ten officers in the ?Top Ten? were assigned to walking beat on 6th St for much of our careers. This entertainment district is notorious for its drunkards and the associated fights. This is a high crime and high drug activity area where we are severely outnumbered at all times. Downtown officers encounter numerous physical fights on any given shift, and some of the subjects turn their violence towards us when we try to stop it. Quick, decisive action is required to stop such fights before they escalate into riot situations. Timely application of pepper spray, physical force (such as pressure points and control holds), and sometimes even impact weapons are necessary to protect the large crowds of innocents from the drunken brawls by a few. Such incidents lead to the ?use of force? reports of which your paper spoke. The policy we follow which leads us to write these reports is vague. We write these reports for any number of reasons ranging from times when an arrestee complains that the handcuffs are too tight to when we have to use deadly force. Most of the use of force reports which are written by officers are for very minor incidents. Many officers write reports in situations when they are not required by policy. At the urging of some supervisors we will write them ?just in case.? The fear of false complaints of excessive force is what has caused this over-reporting. Believe it or not, many people will falsely accuse police officers. This is one way we have to help protect ourselves from false accusations. Look what it has done ? instead it labeled us as violent, racist cops. You did the same when the Statesman's articles so clearly implied that the use of force by APD officers, particularly the ten of us, was racially motivated. In a recent editorial, you quickly backpedaled from those insinuations. But you did not backpedal far enough. Your paper has had neither the courage nor the honor to correct the public record in your news columns by stating that the majority of the incidents in which we had to use and document force were arrests involving white males ? not minorities; even more importantly, that only a minimal number of actual complaints were filed in response to any of these use of force reports. You have cursed every Austin police officer due to the slant you chose to take. You have incited a group of citizens who have a loud voice but small numbers. Based on the massive, pro-police citizen reactions to your article, we know there is widespread public support for the officers of the Austin Police Dept. The majority of the public realizes that we are one of the most professional departments in the country. Our crime statistics speak for themselves. As Chief Knee said in his press release on January 28th, ?It is clear the use of force is a complex issue, and understanding the statistics cannot be oversimplified. It is not fair to the department as a whole to assume that all use of force is inappropriate. I am proud that Austin officers used force in only about one percent of all arrests.? This city is kept as safe as it is through the blood, sweat, and tears of officers like us. We have nothing to hide about what we do and how we handle situations. We work in a rough environment and have a job to do. We will continue to do that job, which is to protect all citizens, even those who oppose us the most.