City halts police license plate reader program after public pushback
communityimpact.com
communityimpact.com
>short-staffed police department
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/08/council-approv...
More funding than ever, yet they're somehow short-staffed? Is that right?
Yes.
This may come as a surprise to you but the United States of America is severely under-staffed when it comes to police, especially given its higher crime rate compared to other developed countries. Cities are the most critically under-staffed, though some rural areas may have few, or no, local dedicated police resources.
Austin PD has a staff of slightly over 2,000, with 1,816 positions for police officers, with 330 vacancies. Let's call that 1,500 officers. Austin, TX has a population estimate for 2024 of 993,588. 1,500 patrol officers for 993,588 people is a rate of 150 per 100k.
Those 1,500 officers responded to 286,035 incidents in 2024: https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiNjJhMmU4YTMtM2IyZS0...
That's 190 calls per officer per year.
Birmingham, England has a population of 1,157,603. Let's call 990k and 1,100k "close enough". It is covered by the West Midlands Police territorial police force. West Midlands has a staff of 12,511, with roughly 8,000 officers. West Midlands has a population of 2,953,816. That is a rate of 270 officers per 100k.
Those 8,000 officers responded to 736,532 calls for service. https://www.police.uk/pu/your-area/west-midlands-police/perf...
That's 92 calls per officer per year.
150 vs 270 officers per 100k
190 vs 92 calls per officers per year
On top of all of that, Austin cops are much more likely to encounter an armed individual, much more likely to encounter an individual under the influence of drugs, have received much less training than the West Midlands officer, and are much, MUCH more likely to be on a call alone, far from backup.
This is a pattern repeated across the United States, yes with exceptions, but IN GENERAL the norm is for officers in the US to basically burn out after 4-7 years due to overwork.
You can compare officers per 100k here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...
The US has the same per-capita number of police as France, but has 5x the murders, 6x the firearms, and 1/4th the training.
The solution is to hire more, pay more, and train more, but there we go being cheap again!
I assert the police are a reflection of the society they serve, and we are cheap, poorly educated, violent dickheads so I expect nothing less from our cops.
>we are cheap, poorly educated, violent dickheads so I expect nothing less from our cops
Amazing (and true)
Austin: $525,190,972
https://budget.austintexas.gov/#!/year/2025/operating/0/fund...
West Midlands: £842,588,000 ($1,144,307,581)
https://www.westmidlands-pcc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/... (page 17)
Based on population that is $528 per resident in Austin and $387 per resident in the West Midlands. I can assure you that crime is way more than 36% higher in Austin. Income is approximately double in Austin, though.
Austin has spectacular reporting on their spending. As far as I can tell West Midlands does not. They just have broad categories (not defined in the budget document) like "Local Policing", "Major Crime", and "Security" among others. There may be other resources but (shrugging guy emoji).
A huge part of Austin's budget is.. drumroll... Healthcare!
Do you have any guesses on why that is?
>A huge part of Austin's budget is.. drumroll... Healthcare!
Wow, that's actually not surprising at all.
Mainly income inequality coupled with a severe lack of a social safety net. Contributing factors are guns and practically non-existent mental health care for the poor.