Cops in Austin? (Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park: felony, house, university) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

xenite · 10-22-2008, 10:50 AM

Since it's a college town, are cops pretty cool in Austin? How are they with speeding tickets, loud parties, drunk people, ect?

Trainwreck20 · 10-22-2008, 12:29 PM

The APD officers, in my limited experience, have been very professional on the whole. In the last few decades I have been pulled over a handful of times (speeding, expired inspection, etc.) and have at least received professional treatment. Haven't run into the 'chip on the shoulder' type yet, although I am sure there are a few out there.

Btw, it isn't really a college town, per se, anymore...around campus there are a few areas where the police are probably a little more tolerant than others, but in the rest of Austin it is pretty much 'apply the law as appropriate'... The sheriffs dept is a little more hardcore, maybe, but not too bad. Williamson County (esp. the Sheriffs dept) has a history of over the top enforcement at times (which is what the residents have historically wanted and voted for).

Smooth from ELP · 10-22-2008, 01:05 PM

Yea you want to be alittle careful in Williamson County. The DPS have been hard a$$es in Cedar Park and surrounding areas. Not sure about Round Rock. Alot of people (minorities mainly) see a Good Ole Boy network setup. Just be careful and dont mouth off to the Troopers.

atxcio · 10-22-2008, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenite

Since it's a college town, are cops pretty cool in Austin? How are they with speeding tickets, loud parties, drunk people, ect?

UT has it's own cops, so the Austin cops are more typical of a regular city. I've not dealt with one in a long time, but their rep used to be of a little more lax enforcement on certain things (but not speeding)... definitely lax compared to Williamson County. The Austin cops have also had a checkered past dealing with minorities, with some unfortunate shooting situations... in a city with any real racial tension, these past events would probably have caused unrest.

Austin has a relatively new police chief from California, who appears to be much more proactive than past chiefs... and so far is getting good reviews.

Keep in mind that in Austin you'll encounter not only Austin cops but DPS, Travis Country Sheriffs, and on the lake LCRA cops (they are the ones that maced Cedric Benson and charged him with resisting, although video showed differently and the charges were later dropped).. so honestly, there is plenty of police presence to here hassle you...

TexasHorseLady · 10-22-2008, 01:36 PM

Question: by "cool" do you mean "will ignore me when I'm speeding through town drunk and loud" or do you mean "will protect me from people speeding through town drunk and loud"? The answer to your question depends on that.

Trainwreck20 · 10-22-2008, 01:50 PM

A couple of indicative examples:

In Austin, if you are intoxicated on 6th street, but not fighting/puking/screaming, the cops will probably leave you alone, especially if you are with a group that looks like has a couple of sober people in it. Moral: Public Intoxication is judiciously applied.

In Georgetown (this is a true incident), the cops show up at a house due to a neighbor calling in a domestic disturbance. Police arrive, obiviously belligerant and drunk man answers the door and there is a screaming, mad woman in the house somewhere. Police ask him to step outside. As soon as he does, they arrest the man for PI (he is now outside the house) and haul him off to the county jail and hold him for 24 hours.

Of course, there are reasons for both. In case 2, the deputies are going on guidance from their elected sheriff who has (probably accurate) data that shows that the drunk man is somewhat likely to beat his wife before he sobers up (or vice versa), and this is a proactive measure. Historically, that (proactive intervention) has been the preference for the voters of Williamson County, for better or worse. In Austin, also for better or worse, it is more of a responds minimally to 'minor' infractions.

xenite · 10-22-2008, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Question: by "cool" do you mean "will ignore me when I'm speeding through town drunk and loud" or do you mean "will protect me from people speeding through town drunk and loud"? The answer to your question depends on that.

Lol, I am 27, half-Japanese, and thinking about moving to Austin. I would never do anything crazy enough to get charged with a felony, but I would love to go out drinking with some friends occasionally (with a designated driver) and want to make sure I won't randomly be harrassed.

Usually Los Angeles cops are pretty cool, unless you get down towards the beach, and I have hung out in Tempe, AZ near ASU, and the regular cops are pretty cool (let you off if its just as minor infraction-going 5 miles over the speeding limit and such), but the University cops will get you for anything and everything.

I was just curious if Austin was a cool place to hang out and party, or if you have to keep looking over your shoulder.

Cardiff Giant · 10-22-2008, 05:03 PM

The police here are ok from my limited interaction. If you have a fender bender you will wait for hours for a cop to arrive.

As for speeding, don't. You won't get a warning, you'll get a ticket. He/she will probably give you a break on the speed but you will get a summons. Every time.

tourbound129 · 10-22-2008, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cardiff Giant

As for speeding, don't. You won't get a warning, you'll get a ticket. He/she will probably give you a break on the speed but you will get a summons. Every time.

I agree here. You will most definitely get a ticket. Although, there seems to be quite the disparity about when they will pull you over.

I got a ticket back in January for doing 65 on I-35 through downtown where the limit is 55mph. It was about 3pm and there were quite a few cars on the road. I definitely felt a little singled out.

Just yesterday I passed a cop running radar doing 75 in a 65 just south of downtown. I was in the middle lane and in the inside lane a car was passing me doing about 80. The cop never moved. Just kept gunning behind us. Not sure what speed he was looking for but it wasn't just 10 mph over.

TexasHorseLady · 10-23-2008, 08:17 AM

I've learned that car speedometers can be off significantly. I was passed on occasion, when I was going 5 miles or so over the limit, by cars that I thought must have been going 80-85. Then I passed one of those roadside "Your speed is" signs that are out periodically in work zones and such and noticed that it said I was going 5 mph less than my speedometer said. I started making special note of those and testing my speed on them and discovered that, yes, my vehicle's speedometer says that I'm going 5 mph slower than the vehicle actually is, pretty consistently down to about 40 mph. (The readings from the various signs were consistent.) At 300,000+ miles, I guess it's earned the right to be off a little bit. I now take that into account.