APD interim chief talks moving forward from Acevedo, shares staffing optimism
Austin Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson on Thursday sat down with KXAN’s Daniel Marin to discuss the interim city manager's now-scrapped idea to hire former APD chief Art Acevedo to oversee the department.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson on Thursday sat down with KXAN’s Daniel Marin to discuss the interim city manager's now-scrapped idea to hire former APD chief Art Acevedo to oversee the department. Henderson also spoke on her optimism when it comes to the department's ongoing staffing issues.
Read part of the transcription of the conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length, below.
MARIN: Chief, thank you so much for sitting down with us.
HENDERSON: Absolutely. My pleasure.
MARIN: I want to start with former chief Acevedo not accepting this new position with the city as an assistant city manager over the police department. What's your reaction to that?
HENDERSON: It's something that I really can't speak or give too many details on. But I do understand that he has declined to accept the position with the City of Austin.
MARIN: That position, in particular, is that something that you think is needed?
HENDERSON: Well, I understand the city's hyper-focus on our department right now, because please know, we are facing quite a few challenges, not just with staffing, but then when it comes to just operational things that have compounded themselves because of the lack of officers that we have. We need to be more innovative and strategic on how we deliver our policing services. And so any opportunity to improve our department and improve our policing services to our Austin community, I'm definitely all for.
MARIN: What are your staffing goals and how do you hope to achieve them?
HENDERSON: Right. So our staffing goal for the year without a doubt is to have an add to the board at the end of the year when it comes to our sworn personnel. The attrition rate has been higher than the onboarding of new officers. So if at least we can get to the point where we are breaking even, great. Even if it's just a plus one, I'll take it. That'd be awesome. That'd be wonderful.
MARIN: Where have you seen progress when it comes to staffing and where do you think the biggest challenge still lies?
HENDERSON: So, progress: I would say that we are about to start a new cadet class and the class is looking pretty healthy. So, we're looking probably at — I'm about to throw out a conservative number but I think it might be a little bit better — it might be about 70 cadets. We haven't seen a class this large in years.
MARIN: And the biggest challenge, the biggest obstacle that you see from your vantage point?
HENDERSON: The biggest obstacle I would say — We're in a new space of being out of contract. And so we're having to do a different process related to civil service when it comes to our hiring. And granted, we are figuring out and navigating that landscape, but it's just new. Most of our staff that are in our recruiting office, even at our training academy, have not been in the space of trying to onboard new applicants through the civil service, just the standard civil service process. So that's a new challenge. But like I said, they're hustling, and we're looking good right now.
KXAN's Brianna Hollis contributed to this reporting.