ADVISORY: AUSTIN, TEXAS

Austin became the 13th U.S. city to vote to defund its police department on Thursday. The city council approved a cut of $150 million, a total which amounts to more than a third of the department's $434 million budget.

A cut of something in the neighborhood of $20 million would be effective immediately. Out of this initial reduction, monies would be diverted from three planned police cadet classes and reallocating funds to areas like violence prevention, food access and abortion access programs.

In addition, overtime pay and patrolling will also take significant hits.

RECOMMENDATION: While Governor Abbott maintains that the Texas Department of Public Safety ( state police, essentially) would "stand in the gap" to prevent Austin from experiencing the full weight of the chaos they have voted to wreak upon themselves, it's highly unlikely that there will be no repercussions from this move.

Radical activists actually wanted a 50% reduction in the police budget with a plan to abolish the force entirely within four years. Given that they didn't achieve this, the militant activists will probably increase the already daily protests they hold in the city to keep pressure on the city council.

Also, as we've seen in Oregon, state police can sometimes be only a temporary measure. It is the goal of Antifa/BLM elements in Austin, to turn the city into the Portland of the South. They are well on their way to achieving this.

The recommendation is to avoid Austin, entirely if possible.

Source: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/13/austin-city-council-cut-police-budget-defund/?utm_campaign=trib-social&utm_content=1597338806&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter