The Austin Police Department celebrated the graduation of 54 new officers last Friday, marking a stride towards addressing their vacancy issue which stands around 350 positions. According to KVUE, this is the first cadet class to graduate under the new police chief, Lisa Davis. With these additional officers, APD expects to end the year with more officers than they started with, something that hasn’t occurred in about five years, as Interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson stated in a CBS Austin interview.
Overcoming a challenging period of operating without a contract and with an understaffed force, Chief Lisa Davis expressed optimism about the future of APD. Having improved the academy and with more cadets enrolling, Davis hopes that more cadets will be enticed to join the force, especially with new management on the horizon which hopes to bring a contract that will include higher pay and bonuses for officers. “With this class, we’re still short 300 officers and recruiting is a big deal,” Davis told CBS Austin…