Austin’s Interim City Manager Jesús Garza has suspended the Austin Police Department’s (APD) partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), in consultation with Mayor Kirk Watson.

“From the start of this partnership with DPS, I said I wanted Austinites to feel safe and be safe. Recent events demonstrate we need to suspend the partnership with DPS. The safety of our community is a primary function of City government, and we must keep trying to get it right,” Watson said in a statement. “This partnership was an innovative approach to address acute staffing shortages that were years in the making. However, any approach must be in sync with Austin values.”