To reduce the number of officer-involved shootings and reduce the degree of mistrust that exists between the African American community and the police, I will work with stakeholders including community residents, APD officers and the City Manager’s office to better understand the options available moving forward. With my current understanding of the issues, I would promote practices such as:

– De-escalation techniques and implicit bias training. – Training officers to be more “guardians” and less warriors. – Coming up with a better/more effective response for mental health calls (e.g. exploring

having mental health professionals or paramedics be the first responders). – Creating more accountability for excessive use of force. – Improving the effectiveness of the civilian oversight bodies per recommendations from the City of Austin Audit Report called Effectiveness of Citizen Police Oversight report (June 2018).