[[link removed]]
Dear John,
As tech companies move into the area, the city government increasingly caters to the industry’s well-paid workers, doing little to prevent displacement and instead cater to the supposed lack of safety facing newcomers.
Austin is quickly suffering the same fate as Silicon Valley.
Today, Grassroots Leadership [[link removed]] , Just Futures Law [[link removed]] , and Mijente [[link removed]] are releasing our latest report on this relationship and examines the links between tech companies, city projects, and increases in policing and surveillance of Austin residents.
Read the report at: bit.ly/ATXbigsecret [[link removed]]
bit.ly/ATXbigsecret [bit.ly/ATXbigsecret]
Some of the highlights include:
*
In
2020,
APD’s
budget
had
$58
million
for
tech,
surveillance,
and
biometric
analysis
.
This
kind
of
overreach
opens
the
door
for
potentially
racist
targeting
of
Black
and
Latinx
communities.
*
Since
2019,
APD
has
shared
at
least
141
utility
reports
of
Austin
residents
from
Austin
Energy
or
Water
with
ICE
to
track,
surveil,
and
detain
immigrants.
*
APD
currently
has
a
$42
million
contract
with
Axon
Enterprise
for
body
cameras
and
related
accessories
.
Body
cameras
are
supposed
to
protect
the
public
from
police
abuses,
but
APD
can
also
use
Axon
software
to
build
cases
against
the
public
.
As the movement to defund the police goes deeper and deeper in cities across the country, we believe this is the first report in Texas published specifically calling out the amount local police agencies spend on tech surveillance contracts.
We hope this report encourages communities across the country, who are actively seeking to defund the police, to investigate how much their own police departments are spending on tech surveillance.
Join us this afternoon at 4pm [[link removed]] on Facebook Live as we go into detail over the findings of the report, what our recommendations are, and what we as a community must do to ensure our public funds are re-invested into our neighborhoods' wellbeing and dignity, not our surveillance and policing.
In solidarity,
[[link removed]]Annette Price and Claudia Muñoz
Acting Co-Executive Directors
Grassroots Leadership
3121 E 12th St.
Austin, TX 78702
United States [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
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