Policing & Community Safety

Low-level drug possession arrests are ineffective and harmful to people who need community-based help, rather than jail time, a new report concludes.

Authorities must take a different approach towards addressing drug use in Travis County, according to the authors of a newly released report. Earlier this month, the four criminal justice groups involved in a study into drug possession arrests revealed some of their findings.

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When I was arrested for my first drug offense, I was 19 years old. The War on Drugs told elected officials that Black people like me were the villains of the story and needed to be locked away in the name of public safety. Along with millions across the country, I was deemed disposable. For the next 20 years, I couldn't find a job or find a place to live in, and I panicked every time I was pulled over for fear that once again that disposable label would be placed on my forehead.

$1.5 million. That was the bond amount set for 37-year-old Jonathan Fulton Smith, who was arrested in connection to a 2018 Bogata arson/homicide case at the end of January. So, who makes the call on a multi-million dollar number — and what do bail bonds do, anyways?

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All three candidate vying to serve as Travis County’s District Attorney came face-to-face at a forum on Sunday afternoon. They are competing in what could be one of the most contentious local races in the March 3 primary election.

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Grassroots Leadership, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition and Texas Harm Reduction Alliance held a

People of color in Austin are policed at disproportionately higher rates than their percentage of the local population, and racial disparities in motor vehicle stops and arrests are widening, according to two new reports.

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Last week, a report from the city’s Office of Police Oversight, Office of Innovation, and Equity Office showed that black and Hispanic drivers are more likely

A new report is highlighting racial disparities in drug arrests in Travis County.

Four organizations that reviewed 2,900 drug possession arrests from June 2017 to May 2018 announced they found “troubling police practices that harm communities, exacerbate racial disparities in arrests and jail detention and fail to address underlying needs of people who use drugs.”

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