In Pierre Bertrand’s July 1 article “Investigators look for clues in early morning stickups,” APD Detective Billy Parks comments on robberies, saying, “It’s pretty basic. They’ve displayed handguns, things like that. It’s not very cost-effective when they can go to jail.”
This is very disturbing. For the victims of these crimes, being robbed at gunpoint is not “pretty basic.” It is terrifying and can cause a lifetime of fearing further victimization.
Displaying handguns is never basic. The criminals described in the story are threatening the basic right of all citizens to feel and be safe.
The job of the Austin Police Department is to ensure safety. This point of this criticism is not to harp on Parks or any individual officer doing his or her job, but to raise a red flag signaling that it appears the mentality of the Austin Police Department is that citizens need to fend for themselves, and officers will sort of be there when you call them. “We want people to be vigilant” Parks said in the article. “We want people to know what is happening.”
I submit that what is happening is law enforcement has become lax universally, especially at the level of minor robberies and thefts. I don’t know if it is because of a shortage of officers, disordered priorities or a cultural shift in how crime is perceived. To me, a group of men or a man carrying a gun and holding up citizens is extremely important, and police should focus heavily on this and all crime. It does take a village for society to work, but let’s be clear — the police department has a job to do, and every second not spent catching criminals and preventing crime is indirectly a theft of public funds.
