One bright spot for the Austin Police Department in the aftermath of this summer’s double homicide may be a decision by the Austin City Council to increase the number of officers on the force.

Saturday, August 05, 2000

One bright spot for the Austin Police Department in the aftermath of this summer’s double homicide may be a decision by the Austin City Council to increase the number of officers on the force.

In a meeting of the council Police committee Thursday morning, it sounded like Police Chief Paul Philipp would get a "yes" to his budget request to hire two additional officers, a move that would bring the council set limit for the force up to 30 officers, including administrators.

"It’s not a done deal," Philipp stressed after the meeting, "but the council seems to be strongly considering additional staff."

During a discussion about the possibility of banning or further regulating nude dancing, council member Dick Lang asked the police chief point blank whether he thought more manpower was the answer to the city’s current problem with prostitution.

"Do you believe we’d be sitting here today if you had more people on the force," Lang asked.

"It’s a fact, with the change (for the less) in manpower, we spend less time in the bars than we did 10 years ago," Philipp said, explaining that when he joined the force, it was his full-time job to patrol on foot the downtown area and bars during the evening hours. "Every time you we put an officer in a bar, we’re taking an officer out of a car."

Any official approval has to go through the proper channels, meaning the official OK will come with the truth in taxation hearing in December.

That’s alright with the chief, because he’s already looking at training three new officers this fall, and he said he didn’t think the department could handle any more trainees until the new year.

For the past several years, the council-set maximum has been 28. However, right now Philipp has only 24 active officers, because two are on long-term sick leave, one was dismissed, and Captain Brian McAlister recently retired. Although the chief is hoping one or both people on sick leave will be back before September, another recent resignation would leave him three short even if both come back. As a result, he’s looking for three new officers, in addition to at least one lieutenant’s position, probably two if the council and mayor approve his recommendation for the captain’s position on Monday.

He is planning to hire three new patrolman by the end of September. The department received about 45 applications for the vacancies. Interviews are set for Aug. 26. Once the new officers are hired, he explained, they would go through 12 weeks of training, which means the force wouldn’t be up to full power until late November or early December.

Although Philipp said that shift schedules at the police department are very tight, he’s hoping to create a special task force if the council approves the two additional staff members, rather than just using them to fill out the daily rotations.

"I would like to … create a special operating unit of three people who would handle problems like prostitution, bar problems, apartment complex problems as they appear. They would work primarily nights, and it would be their job to go where special attention is needed."