So far seven Austinites have been arrested – four of them under 21 – after Austin got its first taste Saturday night of the headline-grabbing “sideshow” events that have become increasingly pervasive in American cities. Car enthusiasts take over public streets to perform dangerous and illegal (and also kinda cool) stunts like donuts and drag races. The Austin version first hit the intersection of South Lamar and Barton Springs Road – a Mad Max-ish vehicular hellscape at many normal times – around 9pm, as a flood of 911 callers reported drivers engaging in risky buffoonery. Officers arrived about 20 minutes later, and the crowd was dispersed about 20 minutes after that.
The sideshow crowd then moved north and took over intersections at Mueller, on Anderson Lane near I-35, and finally at Braker Lane and Metric Boulevard. At each stop, police encountered rowdy crowds who threw rocks and bottles, set off fireworks, and flashed laser pointers in the cops’ eyes. One officer was sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries; at a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 21, Austin police Chief Joe Chacon said the officer would make a full recovery.
No other reports have surfaced of anyone – officer or civilian – being harmed by the sideshows. (Although there’s a video of a pickup doing donuts through flames, which then spread and catch a bystander on fire. Amid laughter he stops, drops, and rolls it off, apparently unharmed.) Over the course of one night, Austin police successfully cleared four separate crowds of rowdy, adversarial young people without hurting anybody and only arresting a few. A great improvement over past episodes, right?
Not according to the Austin Police Association! The cop union quickly trendjacked the chaos to vent its frustrations with City Council’s playing hardball with their contract. According to the APA, the sideshows only happened because “Austin policy makers … continue to defund, destroy, & demoralize public safety.” Once again playing the role of New Sheriff in Town, Mayor Kirk Watson responded quickly to APA’s “false comments” that “appeared to wrongly conflate” the illegal street activity with Council’s contract vote last week. If the union wants to talk about staffing, Watson continued, there’s a chair waiting at the bargaining table.
The union’s whining obscured the much more important staffing shortage at the 911 call center, which has at least 70 unfilled positions, some vacant for nearly two years. (This was one of the failures for which former City Manager Spencer Cronk lost his job last week.) Ideally, 16 call takers would work the 911 weekend night shift, but only 12 were available Feb. 18. So when 390 calls came in from 9 to 10pm, callers were put on hold for up to 27 minutes. (Pro tip! Do not call 911 to complain about things that are not threatening your or another’s life.)
“Obviously unacceptable” is how Chacon described those wait times. The chief added that APD has received more 911 operator applications “than at any time in recent history,” but is still working through the hiring and training process. “And as you can see,” he said, “we still have shortages.”
This article appears in February 24 • 2023.