Woke city policies in Austin, Texas blamed for street racing chaos. ( Soros funded DA and .. )

AUSTIN, Texas — Prominent voices blamed liberal, anti-cop policies for chaos in the city over the weekend after street racers took over city intersections, attacking law enforcement and setting people on fire in wild scenes which were caught on video.

“Austin voters wanted a Mayor, City Council, and [George] Soros [funded] DA who treat cops as criminals and criminals as victims,” tweeted the National Police Association, referring to the left wing billionaire, who is said to have funded Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza.

The public statement from the law enforcement organization came after one officer was injured, following four separate street racing incidents Saturday night into Sunday morning in the Texas state capital, ..

Reckless drivers blocked off intersections, doing donuts, terrorizing other motorists, throwing glass bottles, setting off fire works and starting fires. One Austin cop was hospitalized after being hit with rocks and bottles, but has since been released.

In another scene of mayhem, vandals climbed on top of two sheriff’s patrol cruisers, using traffic signs to shatter the windows.

The Austin Police Department said it took officers 22 minutes to respond to 911 calls by scared citizens “due to no units nearby.”

The department is currently understaffed by about 200 officers, something the Austin Police Association has previously warned could pose a threat to public safety

After the weekend bedlam, union leaders slammed woke elected officials who campaigned on anti-police rhetoric.

“Austin policy makers are directly responsible for the overall safety of their citizens & visitors

In August 2020, the city local council voted to defund cops by $150 million, slashing their budget by a third

Elected officials also nixed three cadet classes and cut 150 officers from the budget in 2020,

Woke city policies in Austin, Texas blamed for street racing chaos. ( Soros funded DA and .. )
New York Post ^ | February 20, 2023 | MaryAnn Martinez

Posted on 2/21/2023, 2:24:33 PM by george76

“This was not only predictable, it was predicted
Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Police Retired Officers Association, told Fox News Digital he knows of 35 officers from the department that have filed retirement papers and at least six of them are “high ranking officers.”

“I fear we’re going to see a mass exodus of the senior people with longevity to where you’re going to have a department where maybe the average service time was in the high teens now and I think it’s going to drop into the low teens,” Farris said, explaining that departments without strong senior leadership often experience more problems due to “inexperience.”

Farris said that two waves of retirements, officers who have already filed and officers who will file when the contract officially expires at the end of March, could result in as many as 100 retirements. Two police sources told Fox News Digital that 150 officers have reached out to the retirement board in the last few days to discuss options.

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