McCant seeks to plug several of those informational gaps in a follow-up memo released Thursday that explains apparent numerical discrepancies and discloses outcomes of specific complaints her office received. The memo also promises to improve the quality of future reporting.
One of the most striking disclosures in the memo is the Police Department’s lack of response to Police Oversight concerns, underscoring ongoing tensions about the scope of civilian oversight authority versus the Police Department’s discretion over discipline.
According to the memo, the oversight office formally objected three times in 2024 to disciplinary decisions made by the interim Police Department chief. In each case, Police Oversight determined through its review that officers had violated department general orders — including excessive force and conduct violations — but APD closed the cases administratively and provided no formal response to objections.
Police officials did not respond to questions from the American-Statesman about the interim chief’s decision-making before publication.
The memo directly underscores that objections do not necessarily alter the Police Department’s final disciplinary action, highlighting a limitation in the oversight office’s influence over discipline under the current system revealing limits in the oversight office’s oversight influence under the current structure.
The memo also addresses an issue that puzzled council members in December: a misalignment in the number of community complaints versus the number of disciplinary actions.
McCant’s memo explains that formal discipline counts differ from complaint counts because one complaint may involve multiple officers, and not all complaint outcomes result in documented discipline such as suspension or demotion. Training, counseling or other administrative actions may occur that are not reflected as “formal discipline” in standard datasets.
The office’s 2024 report — presented to Council in December 2025 — showed that the office received 813 formal grievances against the Police Department from community members. Of those, 159 were recommended for investigation by the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division. Of those investigated, 69 external complaints were sustained — 58 more than in 2023. A total of 125 officers were disciplined across all complaint sources.
Those figures underpin a broader conversation at City Hall about how well oversight mechanisms are functioning following the 2023 passage of the Austin Police Oversight Act, which expanded civilian access to complaint and discipline data.
Council members have stressed the need for better data integrity and transparency, particularly around use-of-force incident reporting and the linkage between complaints and disciplinary outcomes. McCant’s memo explains that improved data infrastructure — including complaint-specific tracking — is planned for future reporting cycles.