By Tony Plohetski
Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — Beginning Monday, the Austin Police Department will have 92 new officers patrolling the streets, serving warrants and guarding city buildings and landmarks.
The parks and airport departments will have none.
After years of discussion and months of planning, the officers who worked for those agencies will become employees of the Austin Police Department, an estimated $2 million merger that officials say should improve the city’s overall quality of policing.
City officials said most residents probably won’t notice a big difference - officers directing traffic at the airport will only have different uniforms and patches, for instance.
However, officials said the merger, which City Council members approved last month, will place all of the city’s police operations under Police Chief Art Acevedo, decreasing the chance for confusion or misdirection in a natural disaster or other emergency. They also said it will create a citywide policing standard, making training and pay equal among all officers.
The consolidation includes about a dozen city marshals, whose primary responsibility is serving misdemeanor warrants for Austin Municipal Court.
“It is a win for law enforcement, and I think it is a win for the efficiency and effectiveness for our department,” Acevedo said last week.
Last month, Acevedo had suggested delaying the consolidation after he was asked to trim his budget by about $5 million, but such a move would have required another council vote.
The cost primarily includes salary adjustments - Austin Police Department officers generally earn more than other city law officers - and increased contributions to the Austin police retirement system.
Officers making the transition were previously members of the city’s retirement program, which is funded at lower rates than the police retirement system.
Such police agency consolidations have taken place among numerous law enforcement agencies nationally in recent decades, ranging from county sheriff’s offices with police departments to smaller community departments joining larger metropolitan agencies nearby, according to a 2003 study by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
According to the study, proponents of such mergers said they improved the quality of police work and training. Opponents, however, have said consolidations can decrease the connection residents may feel with officers who work in smaller departments.
Austin has operated separate parks and airport departments since the 1970s. The airport department developed amid federal orders after a series of airline hijackings across the United States. City officials created the parks department after realizing that parks needed more patrols than the Austin Police Department could provide at the time.
The merger has received general support from others involved, including officers who will be making the transition and members of the Austin police union. The union will add most of the new officers to its membership rosters and last year negotiated with the city about specifics of the consolidation.
“For us, the big step was to make sure we maintain the integrity of law enforcement,” union Vice President Mike Bowen said.
Steve Ried , president of the Austin Public Safety Officers Association, which also will be dismantled Monday, said some parks and airport officers and city marshals stand to gain significant pay increases. Austin officers earn about $67,000 a year after seven years; the others earn $15,000 to $20,000 a year less on average.
“I think in the overall scheme of things, it is the best thing for the City of Austin, and the best thing for the citizens of Austin,” he said. “By far the majority of our folks stand to, by going into the APD pay system, gain a great deal.”
However, Ried said others are disappointed that they will lose their ranks, some of which carried supervisor responsibilities, in the transition. According to the city’s contract with the police union, all new department employees will join the agency at the lowest rank: officer.
City and union officials worked for several months last year to develop other provisions for the consolidation.
Before joining the Austin Police Department, officials reviewed the backgrounds of all marshals and parks and airport officers and decided none had work histories that would prohibit them from joining the department.
Police union officials last year had expressed concerns about the discipline history of some officers who might join the department.
Officers entering the Austin Police Department also must attend an eight-week training class, starting next week, about the department’s policies before hitting the street. Like other new Austin officers, they will become protected under state civil service law after they complete the academy.
Also like newly hired officers, the new officers will be allowed to seek promotions in the department after five years, but they will be able to get credit for up to three years they may already have served with the city.
City Council Member Mike Martinez, who supported the consolidation, said he is pleased it is about to happen and thinks it will go smoothly.
“I don’t see any major glitches,” Martinez said. “It’s not something we just decided to do overnight, and we’ve been preparing for it for some time.”
Copyright 2009 Austin American-Statesman