Leave Austin Now: Massive Wave of Police Retirements Coming as Repercussions from Defunding Hit Home

Texas is generally considered a red (though leaning more and more purple) state. Republicans have been able to keep control outside of the metro areas and even in most of the metros the gab between blue and red is smaller than most other big cities.

The exception has been Austin which models itself more after San Francisco and Los Angeles than Dallas or Houston. The city was among those leading the charge during 2020’s big #DefundPolice movement and the results have been bad. They’re about to get worse. According to Fox News:

Austin police officers past and present are warning Fox News Digital that the Texas capital’s police force critically depleted as a result of defunding in 2020 is on the verge of losing another wave of officers in response to a breakdown between the city and the police on a new contract.

An Austin Police Department source told Fox News Digital this week that 40 officers have filed their retirement papers following a 9-2 city council vote a few weeks ago to scrap a four-year contract that the city had previously agreed to in principle and instead pursue a 1-year contract that the police union’s board has rejected.

That move is believed by many to be due to intense pressure from anti-police activists in the city who look to hold off a long term deal until after voters decide on competing ballot initiatives dealing with “police oversight” that go before voters in May.

“It’s my opinion that the radicals and activists in the city have such a grip on our elected officials that at some point in time over the last year or so their plans changed,” the source, who is an Austin Police Department officer, said.  “They said O.K. now we’re going to get signatures for this ballot initiative in May and switch gears and put pressure on city leadership to move away from a four-year deal to a one-year deal because the four-year is detrimental to what we are trying to accomplish.”

When police move out, criminals tend to move in. The future for residents of the City of Austin looks very bleak. Moving out now before property values plummet over rampant crime may be pro tip.