Editor’s note: For this story, we decided not to publish the names of the alleged perpetrator and survivor in a reported case of sexual assault. In making this decision, we considered the sensitive nature of the allegations and the fact that little information about the investigation is public.
Nearly one year ago, an Austin Police Department commander was accused of sexually assaulting a civilian employee. An internal investigation followed. Later, a criminal investigation was opened. Then, one day before he was set to be fired, the commander resigned. As a result, all records stemming from the investigation have been locked up in a confidential file.
The Internal Affairs (IA) investigation that preceded APD leadership’s decision to fire the commander resulted in “multiple sustained allegations of misconduct,” an APD spokesperson said without specifying what allegations were sustained. It also resulted in APD’s Special Investigations Unit opening a criminal investigation into the allegations against the commander, the spokesperson said. APD declined to say what criminal charges are under investigation, but the case remains active.
The investigation into the former commander demonstrates the concern that police oversight advocates have said motivated their successful campaign to prohibit the city and APD from maintaining a G file.
The city and APD have suppressed details surrounding the investigation, partly by invoking a provision of state law known as the “G file,” which allows cities and police departments to conceal records relating to officer misconduct investigations which do not result in discipline.
But the city and APD appear to be suppressing information in other ways as well.
The IA investigation was launched with an allegation lodged by Jonathan Kringen, APD’s former chief data officer. Kringen was arrested on Oct. 21, 2023, on a misdemeanor family violence charge and subsequently fired by APD (the arrest also prompted an IA investigation into Kringen).
The arrest affidavit filed to support the charge against Kringen alleges that officers responded to a 911 call placed by the victim in the family violence incident and that when they arrived on scene, they saw Kringen grab the victim by the face and pin her against a sofa. The affidavit indicates that Kringen was intoxicated during the incident. After officers forced entry and separated Kringen and the alleged victim, Kringen was arrested and both were interviewed separately.
We don’t have access to transcripts of those interviews (and Kringen’s criminal case remains pending), but multiple sources have said that, during his interview, Kringen made the allegation against the former APD commander. Later, in an email Kringen sent to IA investigators, he described a fear of retaliation from the commander that discouraged him from lodging a formal complaint against him prior to the night of his arrest. APD records obtained by the Chronicle show that, on the day following Kringen’s arrest, APD Assistant Chief Gizette Gaslin wrote the internal complaint against the commander.
The IA investigation into the commander concluded sometime in March. An APD spokesperson confirmed the commander’s termination meeting was set for March 22 but the commander formally resigned March 21. (The commander’s Personal Status Report obtained from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement shows his resignation date as March 22 and that his peace officer license remains active.)
“Many of y’all are aware that I was arrested last year and subsequently terminated. Fewer are aware that I had reported that an APD commander had sexually assaulted a female employee within the department.” – Jonathan Kringen, former top brass at APD
Because the commander resigned before being disciplined, the city and APD have been able to conceal all information related to the investigation – even though investigators proved the commander committed some kind of misconduct. Had the commander been fired, APD’s chief of police (at the time, Robin Henderson) would have had to write a public memo explaining what department policies the commander violated and why he was fired.
The confidential records include the initial complaint memo, which precedes all IA investigations launched by the department itself, but an APD spokesperson confirmed that Kringen’s allegations prompted the commander’s IA investigation. A Public Information Request (PIR) filed by the Chronicle, Sept. 10, seeking the commander’s full personnel file remains pending. In a sworn affidavit signed by the civilian and obtained by the Chronicle via PIR, the civilian describes the IA investigation as probing into whether the former commander engaged in “acts of manipulation and coercion,” “acts of physical intimidation and violence … when he sexually assaulted me.”
Limiting Transparency
Kringen went public with his allegation against the commander (whom he did not name) and against the city and APD for possibly concealing the investigation into the allegation during City Council’s Oct. 8 work session. “Many of y’all are aware that I was arrested last year and subsequently terminated,” Kringen began. “Fewer are aware that I had reported that an APD commander had sexually assaulted a female employee within the department.”
The complexities don’t end there. The Chronicle has confirmed that a month after the IA investigation into the commander was opened, the commander filed a counter-complaint against the alleged victim in his investigation alleging that he was “subjected to sexual assault, persistent and unwarranted harassment, and threatening behavior” from the civilian employee accusing him of that same conduct.
APD opened an investigation into the commander’s complaint, the results of which should be obtainable via the Texas Public Information Act, because G file protections only apply to sworn city employees. But a PIR we filed in June seeking records related to the investigation turned up “no responsive” information, which could mean an investigation was conducted but a final report that would be releasable under the TPIA was not written. The city nor APD would say how the counter-complaint investigation was resolved. The APD spokesperson only said IA, “fully investigated all allegations whether against the former commander or others.”
In emails between the civilian employee and APD Assistant Chief Jeff Greenwalt obtained by the Chronicle via PIR, Greenwalt acknowledges the counter-complaint. In the emails, the civilian says an APD human resources representative told her a report written about the counter-complaint “was no longer being utilized” because it had been rolled up into the commander’s IA investigation (and, eventually, sealed by the G file).
Kringen was fired in April and, last month, he unsuccessfully attempted to overturn his termination by appealing to the city’s Municipal Civil Service Commission. During the appeal process, Kringen subpoenaed the IA investigation into the commander, but the city denied him, writing in an Aug. 12 email to Kringen that the case file “pertains to an unrelated investigation” that was confidential due to the G file. (During the appeal, the civilian submitted the sworn affidavit describing the nature of the commander’s conduct.) Here, the city closed another avenue that could have disclosed information about the investigation into the former commander.
Many questions about what happened between the former commander and the civilian remain unanswered. But the dam of secrecy maintained by the city and APD is breaking.
Already, two City Council members – Alison Alter and Mackenzie Kelly – have reviewed portions of the IA case file that prompted APD leadership to move to fire the former commander. Both Alter and Kelly declined to comment on the contents of the case file, but Kelly said reviewing the files was “an important part of her duty as a public servant.”
“I know if this was my loved one,” Kelly said, “I would want to ensure everything was done properly.”
This article appears in October 18 • 2024.