Press Release: Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo Should Honor Heroic Acts by Cops Instead of Defending Criminal and Coward Cops

The Peaceful Streets Project, known for its well-deserved criticism of the Austin Police Department, would like to take the opportunity to do something that it doesn’t get to do very often: Honor some Austin Police Officers who risked their lives to protect and serve the public.

On June 20th, in an apartment fire on Duval Road, “two APD officers ran door-to-door to alert and remove residents from the area.” These two officers both ended up being hospitalized after being overcome by smoke from the fire, but as a result of their courageous actions, they were the only two injured.

In a separate incident, on June 25th, Austin Police responded to a swimming accident at McKinney Falls State Park. Unfortunately, two people lost their lives in this tragedy, but a third was saved when “Officers jumped unto [sic] the water fully clothed to try and rescue all three victims.”

We are troubled by the fact that the Austin Police Department has done nothing to honor these heroic acts, yet every time there is an officer-involved-shooting or similar example of cops acting negligently or criminally, Chief Art Acevedo is on the scene defending those officers from any and all criticism, and proclaiming their heroism even under the most dubious of situations. We note that even the names of the officers who risked their lives to save others have not even been released to the press. We watch with disgust as criminal cop Patrick Oborski is recognized as a “Jaime Padron Hero,” while real heroism goes unrewarded and unrecognized. We are disappointed that the dubious killing of unarmed minority youths, law abiding septuagenarians and family pets is lauded as heroism by the APD, but saving lives isn’t.

The Peaceful Streets Project respectfully requests that Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo take a break from defending and honoring the cowards and criminals in his department, and take notice of the fact that he has a few officers in his employ that actually put the lives of others before their own.