AUSTIN, TX – The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice Deputy Director Derek Cohen will give invited testimony before the Austin City Council Public Safety Committee TODAY, Monday, January 25th, 2016 at 4:00 pm CST. Mr. Cohen will present a plan on reporting Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team deployments.

“The Austin Police Department is among the top agencies in state, if not the country, when it comes to transparency and public information dissemination. Still, improvements can be made in how deployments of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team are shared with Austinites.  The nuances of these highly-volatile encounters must be carefully examined, lest the tool reserved for only the most precarious situations find common use.  I look forward to presenting options to the committee that would continue APD’s reputation for being a top community-driven department.”

Derek Cohen is Deputy Director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.