From the cover
Coordinated response
the March 1 shooting downtown. Rapid response
CONTINUED FROM 1 Last month, a suspected gunman later identi ed as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne opened re on patrons in the West Sixth Street entertainment district from a vehicle, killing three people and leaving 15 others injured. The incident remained under investigation by the Austin Police Department and FBI, which labeled it a potential act of terrorism, as of press time April 22. The shooting also represented a test of Austin’s coordinated emergency response downtown. Multiple 911 calls came from the area around Buford’s at 700 W. Sixth St. during the shooting early March 1. APD and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services elded to the rst calls shortly before 2 a.m., and rst responders were on scene within a minute and began treating patients soon after. After he’d parked nearby, Diagne was located down the block and police shot and killed him at 2:03 a.m. In the aftermath, Austin o cials pointed to the rapid emergency response as a result of longtime coordination between public safety departments and the city’s focus on security in the city center. That’s included new programs and funding for work in the area, as well as continued support for longstanding initiatives like the APD’s Counter Assault Strike Team, or CAST. “There is no question in my mind that the quick response of the police o cers and of our EMS per- sonnel and those professionals made a di erence and saved lives,” Mayor Kirk Watson said hours after the shooting. The backstory On weekend nights, extra personnel and special- ized vehicles or equipment are available downtown to respond to everything from minor infractions around bars to more serious incidents, such as a shooting. Further preparation and resources are used around festival season, sports games and other major events. City o cials have also laid out speci c responses in the past few years, like the “Safer Sixth” bar district plan created after a 2021 shooting, safety installations around Rainey Street, the reopening of East Sixth Street to vehicles last year, and emer- gency medical funding that was maintained despite other budget reductions. “Over the last several budget cycles, council has made targeted investments to strengthen downtown public safety, with a focus on faster response times, stronger coordination and ensuring resources are in place before emergencies occur,” said council member Zo Qadri, who represents downtown. “Last month’s incident underscored why these investments are critical.”
City o cials credited Austin’s public safety departments coordination, training and programs for their response to
1:57 a.m. First 911 call to APD
1:59 a.m. First APD unit on scene; rst call to EMS and rst EMS units dispatched
2:01 a.m. First police contact with a victim
2:03 a.m. Shots red, relayed to police dispatch
1:58 a.m. First APD call dispatched
2:00 a.m. EMS units on scene
2:02 a.m. First EMS patient contact, police engaged suspect
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN COMMUNITY IMPACT
NOTE: TIMES ARE ROUNDED
responders and help get victims to safety. “If you’re shot, you can lose all of your blood volume very rapidly,” he said. “We need to have paramedics who can work to correct that more rapidly. And so we focused on what we can do that will be unique, that isn’t necessarily another yellow and blue ambulance working 24 hours a day.” Parker noted that CASTMED operations interact with typical EMS deployments downtown that can see medics patrolling in vehicles and monitoring 911 calls together throughout the night.
A closer look Police Chief Lisa Davis said APD o cers working downtown receive speci c training to deal with issues unique to the busier, crowded area. A typical weekend will see at least a few dozen police around downtown in addition to other logistical changes like street closures, barricade placements and vehicle deployments. The CAST team is always on hand on weekends, and Davis said reassigning more than 70 o cers to APD’s patrols last summer has helped downtown— although the department still relies on frequent overtime shifts as a supplement. She also credited Austin’s participation in Advanced Law Enforce- ment Rapid Response Training, or ALERRT, o ered through Texas State University for readying o cers for situations like the March shooting. Compared to what she’d seen during her previous work in Ohio, Davis said she was also surprised by the level of the city support needed to maintain safety in one of Austin’s most high-pro le areas. There, more businesses and bars in entertainment districts pooled resources to chip in for added security, while she said “the dime’s on us” in Austin—something she could seek to change in the future to complement the city’s response to serious incidents. “You have a dense area that’s highly populated, those are issues that can occur,” she said. “As we look at the resources that we put in moving forward, certainly would like to have conversations with businesses about them maybe sharing some of the cost as far as adding extra patrols.” Zooming in Several EMS approaches for downtown include the department’s special events, emergency man- agement and special operations units. Building on APD’s program, the recently expanded CASTMED is a joint police-medic response to cases of violence that’s drawn national attention. The police-medic partnership o ers advanced life-saving capability. ATCEMS Assistant Chief Kevin Parker said the added law enforcement presence can address threats, shield health care
“This approach ensures immediate, coordinated
response when seconds matter
most.” ZO QADRI, COUNCIL MEMBER
The outlook Last year’s failed tax rate election led city leaders to consider cutting some planned public safety support. However, in the end, o cials still used millions of dollars to boost or maintain EMS sta ng, a separate mental health response unit and downtown programs. Those decisions came a year after around $2 million was budgeted to link EMS with CAST and create a Downtown Area Command, or DTAC. The command now stages medics and all-terrain vehi- cles to treat patients around East Sixth. Another city initiative launched last year, Austin FIRST, now has police o cers responding to serious mental health calls alongside medics and clinicians in Central Austin daily. “Last month’s incident underscored why these investments are critical,” Qadri said. Multiyear labor deals with Austin’s police, re and EMS forces are all in place, and funding
16
COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
Powered by FlippingBook