APD
TAG Releases Fusion Center Report
Texans for Accountable Government has released a report highlighting our concerns about fusion centers and our recommendations for protecting the privacy and rights of citizens in the Austin area. The coming Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC) will be operated by the Austin PD and will coordinate intelligence for the surrounding counties. We have an opportunity to make ARIC a national model for how to run a fusion center that does not infringe on the rights of the citizens it is supposed to serve. The report (found here) will be presented to the Austin Public Safety Committee at their next meeting.
TAG, ACLU, and Community Await City Recommendations on Blood Draws
In October of 2009, Texans for Accountable Government brought a resolution before the City Council which would have put a stop to Austin’s “no-refusal” weekends and prevent Austin police officers from ever being trained as phlebotomists. While we managed to garner the support of the Travis County, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Libertarian Party, Green Party, NAACP, LULAC and many others, we were met with much resistance from the city establishment.
At the 11th hour our community-supported resolution was nixed and instead the council voted on a substitute resolution which merely called on the City Manager to come up with guidelines on how blood collection should occur on no-refusal weekends. The guidelines were supposed to be presented to the Public Safety Commission by the 29th of January however the City Bureaucracy, as usual, is behind schedule. The findings should be presented before the Commission on Monday March 1st at City Hall. We’ll be there!
You can view a KVUE interview on the matter here.
The original TAG community supported resolution can be viewed here.
The resolution introduced by Councilman Spelman can be viewed here.
And the final watered down bureaucracy version can be found here.
Public Safety Commission Meeting @ Austin City Hall
The Public Safety Commission is set to have their next meeting this coming Monday. APD Chief of Staff David Carter will be giving an update on the Fusion Center @ 4:45PM. This is an excellent opportunity to ask questions and get the facts about the Fusion Center.
When: Monday, February 1, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Where: City Hall, Boards and Commissions Room 1101 (301 West 2nd St)
Fusion Center Q&A – Jan 26th @ 7PM
Texas Impact (texasimpact.org) is hosting a public forum with an APD representative who will be speaking about the Austin Regional Intelligence Center. This is an important opportunity to ask questions. We encourage people who are concerned with the Fusion Center apparatus to attend and ask hard questions. We want APD to explain how they’re planning to ensure that this Fusion Center will not violate our privacy or civil liberties. More importantly, we want APD to defend why they should have a Fusion Center at all.
When: Tuesday, January 26th @ 7PM
Where: St. John’s United Methodist Church (2140 Allandale Road)
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