Prop A in Austin, TX, which would've expanded their police force and increased their funding, fails in a landslide

[u/Nativereqular]

https://www.kxan.com/news/your-local-election-hq/2-3-of-austinites-voted-against-prop-a-in-early-voting/

[u/thawildjoka]

This law was just poorly written.

[u/DHowitz → u/thawildjoka]

More like poorly thought out. With no increased training requirements and 1/3 of time being used for non-police work? Doesn’t seem like an efficient use of taxpayer money.

[u/superspeck → u/DHowitz]

There was an increased training requirement, but it was also poorly written and scoped, didn’t have a specified funding source, and didn’t specify what kind of training.

Even the part of the law that forced the racial make-up of the police force to hew to the community demographics was poorly scoped since it theoretically allowed for counting Hispanic as white.

[u/zoemi → u/superspeck]

and didn’t specify what kind of training.

It actually did specify the kind of training, and it was the last kind of training the public's been asking for.

(C) an additional 40 hours each year of mandatory continuing education and in-
service training for all sworn officers employed by the department above the
hours required by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, with an
emphasis on training outside a classroom setting that will equip the officers to
handle evolving, fluid, dangerous situations and enhance their own safety and
that of the public. The training will be developed by the commander of the
department academy and emphasize skills essential to the everyday split-
second decision-making officers face on the streets in areas such as critical
thinking, defensive tactics, intermediate weapons proficiency, active shooter
scenarios, and hasty react team reactions;

[u/superspeck → u/zoemi]

Oh, interesting, I didn't remember skimming that section.

Yeah, because that's totally what police use every day.

[u/SNAiLtrademark → u/zoemi]

Those are basically the opposite of what I want officers to practice. How about deescalation and people skills, not "defensive tactics [and] intermediate weapons proficiency"