Democrat who voted to defund Austin police ripped as hypocrite after requesting police protection

A Texas Democrat who was a strong advocate of defunding the Austin police in 2020 was accused of hypocrisy on Tuesday after he requested a police patrol in his neighborhood from the same department.

Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) requested the police’s assistance through the United States Capitol Police, which forwarded the request to the Austin Police Department, according to Fox News. Casar also sent a letter to the Justice Department last week accusing the Texas police force of racism and discrimination against people with mental health problems.

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“It’s come to our attention that Anti police king of the defund movement in Austin, who only last week called APD an agency with racist practices has requested enhanced patrols around his house for the next week,” the Austin Police Retired Officers Association posted on X on Tuesday. “We want everyone in Austin to feel safe, but this seems to us as the height of hypocrisy from the congressman. Maybe he should hire private security like his fellow squad members do. Sure seems like he wants the police in his neighborhood just not yours.”

Casar was one of the most prominent advocates of defunding the police force in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter summer protests. The congressman encouraged the city to reduce funding for the department drastically while he was on the City Council. The calls to defund the city’s police force led to a series of resignations and retirements from the department.

“We did it!!” Casar posted on X in August 2020. “Austin City Council just reduced APD’s budget by over $100 million *and* reinvested resources into our community’s safety and well-being.”

Former Austin police officer Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Police Retired Officers Association, said he believes the department should provide resources if there were enough officers, and a legitimate threat, but agreed that he was being a hypocrite.

“A week ago, he was calling the Austin Police Department a racist department that targeted Black and brown people, and this week he’s asking the exact same department to do enhanced patrols around his house,” Farris told Fox News. “It doesn’t matter what political party they’re in. If they ask us for our help, we will give it to them. The last thing we want is something happening to them. My issue with it … [is] the whole, ‘We hate the cops, we hate the cops, we hate the cops. Oh, please, come help us now.’ He is the architect. He is the architect of defund the cops in Austin. He started this whole mess.”

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Casar’s office did not specify what threat or reason the congressman needed extra security, and the U.S. Capitol Police said it does not speak about “any of the potential security measures that are available to all of the members of Congress.”

Austin police confirmed that it has received the request but said it was using the same protocol to review the request as it does for all requests.