With Austin Police Department at crossroads, Chief Brian Manley stepping down
Austin police Chief Brian Manley, who rose through the ranks as a department rookie to its top leader, will step down next month.
"The role of the police chief is one that is so demanding that I felt, if I'm actively considering what is next for me, what I want to do next with my life, I'm likely not giving all of myself to the job," Manley said at a press conference Friday.
His departure nearly three years after he took over the department comes at a time of shifting philosophies and ongoing debate about policing in Austin and across America. It also comes amid changing leadership in other key criminal justice positions in Travis County, including new top prosecutors overseeing felonies and misdemeanors, that many expect will bring a more reform-minded system.
Manley has faced persistent calls for him to step aside in recent months, increasingly after Austin police officers caused serious injuries during local protests of George Floyd’s in-custody death in Minneapolis in May and of the fatal shooting of Michael Ramos in Austin a month earlier.
Reaction:Manley departs with mix of praise, criticism from Austin civic leaders
Manley’s decision to leave, however, came as he celebrated his 30th anniversary with the department and as a police officer Feb. 1, which he has described as a personal milestone he wished to reach and marked with a social media picture of his father pinning his badge on him in 1991.
At the press conference Friday morning, Manley said he will continue to work after he leaves the department next month either in the private or public sector and that he has no intentions of moving out of the Austin area. He said the criticism against him and his department did not play a role in his stepping down, suggesting that those things come with the territory in such an important and demanding job.
It was not immediately clear who will succeed Manley, whose final day is March 28. In a city memo Friday morning, City Manager Spencer Cronk said he would launch a national search immediately and appoint an interim chief early next month. The interim chief would be confirmed by the City Council.
Watch live:Austin Police Chief Brian Manley announces retirement
Chief of staff Troy Gay and Assistant Chief Jennifer Stephenson joined Manley and Cronk at the press conference and could be candidates for interim chief. Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano also was there. Cronk declined to say what characteristics he's looking for in the next chief. He said he wanted to first celebrate Manley's time with the department before looking ahead.
"I look forward to an engagement with our community as we look to determine who our next chief will be," Cronk said.
At the risk of his own political capital, Cronk has consistently lent his support to Manley, despite calls from some of Cronk’s City Council member bosses to oust the chief because they believed Manley stood in the way of more progressive policies. Last summer in the wake of protests, the 11-member council unanimously put it on record that they had "no confidence" in Manley's leadership and his ability to make Austin safer for communities of color and low-income residents. Seven members publicly called for Manley's removal as chief.
Council Member Greg Casar, a longtime Manley critic, said Friday that the city must prioritize the protection of all citizens in reshaping the police department post-Manley.
“While Chief Manley and I have had major disagreements about the direction of our city, I respect his years of public service and wish him well in his future endeavors," Casar said in a statement. "The community is now tasked with choosing the future path of our police department. Our goal must be protecting public safety and civil rights, for all neighborhoods and for people of all backgrounds.”
June 2020:In face of calls for ouster, Cronk to keep Manley as police chief
Manley, who grew up in Austin, is the first chief in decades to have been promoted to the position after spending his career with the department, where he has worked during his time as chief to create new wellness programs for officers. Internally, he is widely known among the rank-and-file as being a steadying supporter of his troops, boosting their morale at times of community distrust. He spent some of his earlier years in the child abuse division as both an investigator and a supervisor, a period in his career he said came with great impact.
"Because at the end of the day, you are dealing with children that are in horrible circumstances by no fault of their own. And you are that person that can make a difference," Manley said.
In a statement, the Greater Austin Crime Commission said that Manley has "led the Austin Police Department with character and integrity during the difficult moments of our community."
It said Manley had championed efforts to expand community policing and confronted public safety challenges as a growing city.
Manley was serving as interim chief in 2018 when a serial bomber attacked Austin and was cited for his leadership and praised for the department’s response. Manley personally participated in a SWAT-team convoy when officers stopped the bomber, who killed himself with his own explosive device.
April 2019:Brian Manley ranked 49th on Fortune’s list of 'World’s Greatest Leaders'
Within weeks, Cronk declared Manley the lone finalist for the top job, saying he had multiple traits he sought in the next department leader.
Mayor Steve Adler said at the time that Manley had “earned the position,” and Manley enjoyed support from business leaders and much of the city’s more traditional powerbase. Austin’s activist community offered more tepid responses but said they would try to work with Manley on common goals.
However, Manley’s critics grew in the fall of 2019 after they said he did not respond quickly enough after an assistant police chief used racist language. Manley apologized, saying that he should have done more faster to address the issue.
November 2019:Manley apologizes for not acting faster on racism allegations
His department faced condemnation after the Ramos shooting in April 2020. Cell phone video published by a bystander shows Ramos initially faced officers with his hands up before one of them fired and hit him with a bean bag round. Officer Christopher Taylor fatally shot Ramos after he got back in his vehicle and started driving.
City leaders also expressed strong dissatisfaction for the police response during the Black Lives Matter protests, particularly the department’s use of “less lethal” weaponry that critically injured several participants, as well as uninvolved passersby. In a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and shared with national media, a dozen Austin doctors described how the use of beanbag rounds by Austin officers resulted in horrific injuries, including penetrating wounds and brain injuries requiring surgery.
"We have never experienced that type of protesting and rioting here in Austin before, and we learned after that first weekend that some of the tactics and tools that we have employed here for decades, performed in a way that we had never seen them before. So, as I talked earlier about being dynamic, we immediately made changes," Manley said.
June 2020:Protest group once allied with Manley now calls for him to quit
June 2020:Austin City Council reaches rare unity in Police Department rebuke
Since those incidents, Manley has been under near-constant scrutiny and faced mounting criticism.
In recent weeks, Manley has faced other controversies, including his decision to not discipline two officers in a force encounter that led to their indictment after District Attorney Jose Garza brought the case before a grand jury.
Garza, who took office in January, has said police accountability will be a priority during his term.
Manley also has at times sparred with County Attorney Delia Garza, who also took office in January after serving on the City Council. The two have differed about issues such as the degree to which police should arrest those facing drug charges.