A Question that Austin City Council Needs to Ask: Are Staffing Levels for the Austin Police Department's Sex-Crimes Division Currently Adequate?

One of the incisive questions that Austin City Council members should be asking is simply this:

Are there currently an adequate number of detectives and other police officers and support-staff members employed in the Sex-Crimes Division of the Austin Police Department?

I sense that the answer to that question is probably "no."

However, I myself have not seen or heard any recent local news media account addressing this very important question for the City of Austin and the people of Austin.

Another important question that the Austin City Council should be asking is the following:

In what percentage of the cases in which the Austin Police Department formally charges someone with having allegedly committed a sex crime is the criminal-law suspect actually convicted of that felony crime in a court of law?

It seems likely that increased staffing for the Sex-Crimes Division of the Austin Police Department could help to foster an increase in the conviction rate on individuals who get formally charged with having allegedly committed a sex crime in Austin.

At present, unfortunately, many Austin residents are completely unaware that there is, in fact, a Sex Crimes Division of the Austin Police Department. The phone number for APD's Sex Crimes Division is: (512) 974-5230.

Any and all Austin residents who have ANY evidence of any possible or alleged sex crime that they have observed, or that they suspect to have allegedly occurred, are each urged to immediately contact APD's Sex Crimes Division and share that "hunch" or "impression" or "factual information" or "suspicion" or "crime tip" with that nobly crime-fighting section of our municipal law-enforcement agency.