APD dominates packed council agenda

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The KeyPoint review , a new fusion center, and the hiring of a phlebotomist were all issues Austin Police Department were heavily involved in at Thursday’s city council meeting.

The city’s legal team made a presentation and answered questions from the council members concerning City Manager Marc Ott’s response to Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

Leffingwell had asked for information about why some information in the KeyPoint review was redacted. In his response, Ott detailed the timeline of events involving the shooting death of Nathanial Sanders and said he would ask the law department for recommendations to better handle independent investigations.

Ott says clear expectations will be established concerning paperwork and its availability to the public.

The Texas Civil Rights Project was vocal during the public input portion of the meeting and released a statment Thursday suggesting Chief Art Acevedo broke the law and should face jail time for sending a copy of the review to a friend in California.

"Acevedo broke the law last year and, what’s more, he intended to break the law,”said TCRP's Jim Harrington. They can’t have it both ways and say on one hand that the report is confidential by law, but then break the law and release it to select people."

The police department also was involved in the discussion of the new Austin Regional Intelligence Center.

The ARIC would be a “fusion center” and allow 10 surrounding law enforcement agencies, including Austin, Pflugerville, Round Rock and Georgetown departments to share information about criminals and organized crime which may stretch over jurisdictions.

The American Civil Liberties Union was present at the meeting and was vocal in urging the council to establish more accountable privacy policies before moving forward with the project.

Civil rights organizations have expressed concerns about the fusion center and worry it could lead to personal profiling and other privacy rights violations.

”It is not about being for or against the center, but we want to know who is going to make the policy work,” said Matt Simpson with the ACLU. “We will work with police or anyone else to improve the center.”

The council approved the fusion center unanimously after making an amendment to ease some of the privacy concerns.

Chief Art Acevedo also answered questions about the hiring of a full-time phlebotomist to assist with blood-draws on DWI suspects. The city is currently paying Brackenridge Hospital to draw blood and having their own phlebotomist would be more cost effective.

The council approved the hiring unanimously.