Newly re-elected Democrat Austin City Councilmember Alison Alter is facing pushback following an email exchange with the city’s police chief over the recent events that occurred on January 6 in Washington D.C.
In an email to Police Chief Brian Manley last week, Alter asked him to “proactively investigate” whether APD officers were involved in the D.C. events (which Alter hyperbolically termed an “insurrection”), even though nobody has accused any APD officers of being within a thousand miles of the U.S. Capitol.
Chief Manley replied there was no evidence of officer participation and that sort of “proactive” virtue signaling would divert resources from investigations of actual officer misconduct.
But Alter was undeterred, saying, “As an educator and as a parent, it has been my experience that you look for teachable moments to encourage desired behavior and that repetition helps lessons sink in.”
As law enforcement advocate Dennis Farris explained on Twitter:
1/3 I’l start out by saying @ALTERforATX owes every employee of APD both sworn and civilian an apology. Your obvious bias towards the police department is outrageous and unbecoming a member of the ATX city council. Also there is this little legal document called the city charter.
— Dennis Farris (@Farris_actual) January 16, 2021
Farris continued on his Twitter thread and claimed Alter’s email and phone calls violated the city charter’s policy of impartiality.
“By singling out just APD, you violated that policy also. If an employee of APD had done that, you would be demanding they be disciplined. So what should happen to you for violating the charter and city policy?” He concluded, “Just another example [of] ‘Do as I say not as I Do’ #Hypocrite.”
No other city department was asked to provide similar information.
Alter’s move comes on the heels of an intense year that saw the all-Democrat city council cut the police budget by one-third amid rising violent crime rates.
Austinites concerned about Alter singling out the police department can contact her office at (512) 978-2110.
