By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-25 17:36:46 | Updated at 2024-11-25 19:27:34
1 hour ago
In just 10 days, the most liberal city in Texas saw six murders, a unusual phenomena in the red state that prioritizes public safety.
Austin's murder rate has spiked in recent years, along with crime, which has spiraled out of control.
With several weeks in the year left, the capital city has recorded 62 homicides; compared to 73 in 2023.
An all-time high of 88 murders took place in 2021.
'You're looking in Austin, prior to 2020, I believe it was the norm to have 25 homicides a year, so to go up from 25 to 30 homicides to most likely will end at 70 for the year, that's a concern,' the city's brand new police chief, Lisa Davis, told the local Fox station just last week.
Led by then-mayor Steve Adler and ultra leftist members of city council, 2020 was a pivotal year for public safety in the growing Texas city.
Anti-police sentiment reached a boiling point after riots broke out in Austin's streets over the death of George Floyd.
The former mayor and city council went to war with the police that same, slashing the department's budget by a third - and dismissing two recruiting classes for new police cadets.
Austin, the Texas capital, is deep blue city where even Democrats have to prove how liberal they are to win elections
Austin currently has a police shortfall of nearly 500 cops after city council defunded the police department in 2020, only to return the money after they learned the state would penalize them for doing so
The city was later forced to give back the money due to a state law that penalized municipalities that defunded police.
However, the damage was done, with cops retiring early or transferring to departments in the Lone Star State.
It's left the police department understaffed by 483 officers and created a public safety crisis that means 911 calls will be directed to the non-emergency number unless you're in a life or death situation.
Homicide detectives and specialty units that targeted gangs or park patrols have been disbanded so that those officers can fill the basic needs of the city, like patrolling high crime areas of town or answering 911 calls.
In 2020, Austinites also voted the George-Soros backed district attorney Jose Garza into office.
In his tenure, Garza has been repeatedly accused of offering plea deals to murders and being soft on crime.
'How many of the assailants from this year were out on bond at the time,' retired police officer David Fugitt said in an online post over the weekend.
'How many of the deaths could have been prevented had the assailants been held accountable for prior crimes?'
Garza held a press conference in November to take credit for a jury's conviction of murderer Kaitlin Armstrong, even though he had offered Armstrong a plea deal, which she turned down, opting to take her case to trial instead
Garza recently won a second term in office, despite pleas from victims of crime sharing their horror stories about him.
A wealthy Austin neighborhood responded to the crime wave by voting to leave the city in what many saw as 'giving the finger' to soft on crime policies.
Lost Creek, a rich enclave in the west side of Austin, saw an overwhelming majority of 91 percent of residents vote to break away from the city during a May 4 election.
