Pressure builds on police contract
The contract might not go through.
On Tuesday I wrote that I didn't expect City Council to meaningfully scrutinize the tentative contract that city negotiators have reached with the Austin Police Association.
I would still guess that Council doesn't have the attention span or grit to challenge the finances of the deal, but there is a strong possibility that Council members will refuse to approve the contract on police accountability grounds.
The criminal justice reform crowd is putting a full-court press on Council to reject the contract, both on oversight grounds and fiscal grounds. They're planning to show up in force to the Oct. 10 meeting when Council is scheduled to vote on it.
And this morning, CM Chito Vela released a statement urging "caution" on the contract and requesting assurance from city attorneys that the tentative deal complies with the voter-approved Austin Police Oversight Act. The specific concern is that the contract eliminates the notorious G-File, where records related to police misconduct investigations are kept from public view, only for future records, but not for existing one. (More on that below)
