Another Black Eye for APD
Caught on tape: Austin Police Department confirms rape jokes were made by officers
UPDATE: APD has identified the two officers as Mark Lyttle and Michael Castillo.
---
The Austin Police Department has confirmed that people caught on video making rape jokes are indeed police officers. In the video, which was obtained by an Austin-based attorney via the Texas Open Records Act, two officers make jokes about sexual assault calls.
One officer says, "Look at the girl over there," before blowing a whistle. The second officer counters saying, "Go ahead and call the cops. They can’t unrape you."
KXAN originally alerted APD to the video, which had been posted to YouTube, on October 30. On Friday afternoon, APD released the following statement:
The Austin Police Department has validated the video/audio publicly released pursuant to the Texas Open Records Act. The officers in the video/audio have been identified as Austin Police officers. Upon learning of the video’s contents, the Department immediately launched an internal investigation. The investigation will include a comprehensive audit of the involved officers’ contacts with victims of sexual assault to ensure the actions taken during the contacts meet the expectations of the Department, the public and most importantly, the victims. Upon conclusion of the investigation, the Department will take appropriate corrective action.
This is just the latest in a series of public relations disasters the department has faced during the past few years. During the past 18 months, APD has dealt with the fallout following the shooting death of Larry Jackson Jr., the very public arrest of an Austin jogger near the University of Texas campus and public outcry over the safety of downtown Austin.
Last year, City Manager Marc Ott called upon the Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation into Austin Police Department's practices. The DOJ refused, noting that it conducted a similar investigation in 2007. Though that investigation found APD's practices to be constitutional, the DOJ did offer more than 100 recommendations for improvements.
