APD Officer-Involved Shootings & Use of Force: An Independent Analysis
An independent analysis of 61 Austin Police Department officer-involved shootings (2018-2026), examining who is harmed, how many shots are fired, and what the city's public data still cannot answer as council weighs a $24.2 million police budget increase.

Measure and Workable World analyzed publicly available Office of Police Oversight and Open Data Portal records covering 61 APD officer-involved shootings. The analysis finds that 60.7% of subjects died, that Hispanic subjects accounted for the largest share of fatal outcomes, and that officers fired more shots on average when a subject had a firearm but did not fire it, with the largest gap for Black subjects (92% more shots). It also documents that 42.9% of shootings from 2021 to 2025 involved a subject with mental health or drug impairment. The brief closes with four recommendations, including pausing consideration of a police budget increase and increasing the budget for the Office of Police Oversight.
Bookout, J., Foots, L., Oquendo, D., Desai, H., & Weiss, Z. (2026). APD Officer-Involved Shootings & Use of Force: An Independent Analysis [Report]. Measure, in partnership with Workable World. https://wemeasure.org/reports/apd-officer-involved-shootings-use-of-force
Authors are listed in the order recognized by Measure for this report.
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