Negotiations between Austin officials and the police were breaking down in part over the city’s attempts to increase police accountability in 2018. The city’s citizen review panel disbanded. Finally, that November, the parties reached an agreement, though tensions remained. A new office was created and staffed by civilians rather than police: The Office of Police Oversight.
The office’s job, as stated in its city contract, is to pass along complaints to the police and oversee the misconduct complaint investigation process. From its inception, the Office of Police Oversight bullishly pursued complaints of officer misconduct. Farah Muscadin, an attorney who had previously served as police monitor during the 2018 negotiations, became director. Her staff actively reviewed evidence, formally objected to department policies and updated residents on complaints.
But in late 2021, an arbitrator declared the office had gone too far, overstepping bounds laid out in the contract by investigating complaints, collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. Austin police criticized a case in which the Office of Police Oversight reviewed body camera footage to compare how an officer interacted with a Black loiterer versus a white loiterer. The arbitrator sided with the police. The contract expressly forbids “gather[ing] evidence, contact[ing] or interview[ing] witnesses, or otherwise independently investigat[ing] a complaint of misconduct by an Officer.”
