Third party will review rape-clearance data that spurred ouster of Austin PD division chief

Last night, the Austin City Council voted to have a third party review years worth of cases to discover the extent to which the Police Department inflated clearance rates in sexual assault cases. the agency pressured the head of the sex crimes unit to declare more cases "exceptionally cleared," then removed her when she refused and began puffing up the numbers, anyway. Now we know she was in the right and APD brass was fudging data to misrepresent success rates to the city council and the public.

Here's the Statesman's minimalist coverage, but you can watch the testimony yourself if you like. On the latest episode of the Reasonably Suspicious podcast, my co-host Mandy Marzullo and I included a segment on this topic, in which I took APD Chief Bryan Manley to task for blaming victims and playing hide-the-ball. I've excerpted it here to highlight the issue; give it a listen:


The city council is letting Chief Manley off easy. He has not behaved like a man who understands why what the department did here is a problem. OTOH, the controversy isn't over: Manley is scheduled to address the issue before the public-safety commission on Monday evening.

See prior, related Grits posts:

• More than a clerical error: DPS audit proves Austin PD forced out sex-crimes chief for refusing to fake clearance rates
• Whistleblower: Austin PD fudged rape clearance rates to boost numbers, pretend hundreds of crimes were solved when no arrests were made
• Austin police chief needs better responses to whistleblower allegations of improperly cleared rape cases