Replace Police Chief Manley

My neighborhood has been horrified by the murder of Mike Ramos by police. It has been with dismay that I’ve been reading the coverage of Police Chief Manley’s response on GritsForBreakfast.

With a massive dip in revenue I think it’s time to rethink our police budget and the leadership there. I sent Austin City Council a message to that point this morning and urge others to as well.

I am really dismayed to see how Police Chief Manley has been handling the murder of Mike Ramos by his police officers. I know that many Austinites stereotype East Riverside as a crime filled neighborhood. But I live about 200 yards from the area Mike Ramos was killed on the Country Club Creek trail. My work commute (before Coronavirus) was through this neighborhood. There are always neighbors hanging out in their cars and working on their cars. There are usually toddlers and kids playing. On my way home from work you’ll find families out exercising together. You’ll find groups of teenagers chilling out together. My family regularly takes walks on this part of the trail. The notion that you would need to roll in with guns drawn is absurd.

With the current budget woes and low crime in Austin I think it’s time we seriously start talking about a different sort of police department. We clearly have different needs now. We need peacekeeping officers for festivals and tourism related events. And we need a police department that can deal with property crime and not murder our citizens. Healthy Streets has really highlighted the fact that we could have beat officers without guns who interface with the neighborhood rather than rolling around spewing carbon in giant vehicles. Electric bikes could provide a much more agile response than cars and without the need to send out a costly helicopter because those cars cannot follow suspected criminals through parks, etc.

I urge you to think about a new, less expensive, less murder-y form of policing and replace Manley with someone who can make that a reality.

You can also Send Council an Email.