Barrera killing highlights APD staffing

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The killing of a beloved teaching assistant and music mentor has renewed a conversation about police staffing numbers in Austin.

• Related: Police chief talks about latest in the case

At a neighborhood meeting Tuesday, Police Chief Art Acevedo told a crowd of concerned neighbors that the city was below the national average for staffing of officers.

"You never hear me complain we don't have enough cops," said Acevedo. "But I can tell you that over the years, we continue to do more with less. If we had 2.4 officers per thousand residents, we would have about 450 more officers in the city of Austin."

Some 2.4 officers per thousand residents is the national average for police staffing.

"There is going to be a conversation that began last budget session about staffing," Acevedo told the crowd.

The Austin City Council approved 49 new officer positions for 2012. Some 47 of those positions are for patrol officers, and the other two will be assigned to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Acevedo has said he was satisfied with the initial response of the patrol officer who took the call about an assault on King Street about 30 minutes before Esme Barrera's New Year's Day murder.

He said the department has reviewed video that shows the officer searching the neighborhood for the suspect shortly before the homicide call came in.

Acevedo said the department didn't have enough officers to saturate the neighborhood during a search for the suspect.

But he is quick to point out that Austin is a safe city and that violent crime was down 7 percent in 2011.

"This is still one of the safest cities in the country, but I think it's important for us to recognize that no matter how safe you are: There's still crime going on. There's still people that will do us harm," Acecvedo told the crowd. "I promise you: Whether it's in this neighborhood or any other neighborhood, we're going to put our resources in to catch this bad guy."

He also explained that the department studies crime statistics and trends and shifts resources accordingly. For example, APD has increased patrols in the neighborhood where Barrera was killed, and officers are going door to door to remind people about safety.