Austin Police Department Chief Brian Manley announced his resignation from the department during a Feb. 12 press conference at APD HQ. (Photo by John Anderson)
Austin police Chief Brian Manley announced Friday that he will retire on March 28, following a year in which criminal justice activists and community members have called for him to resign. That call began over how Manley handled revelations that a former assistant chief regularly used racist language, then accelerated following the violent response to Black Lives Matter protesters his officers engaged in over the summer.
Born and raised in Austin, Manley began his career as an APD patrol officer in 1991. He steadily moved up the chain, serving as lieutenant, commander, assistant chief, and, finally, chief of staff to Art Acevedo before being named interim chief when Acevedo departed to lead the Houston Police Department in 2016. He rose to national prominence for his handling of the three-week bombing spr
Manley departs with mix of praise, criticism from Austin civic leaders
The reaction from political and civic leaders Friday to the news that Brian Manley is stepping down as the chief of the Austin Police Department was much like Manley s tenure itself: a mixture of positives and not-so-positives.
While some took the moment to celebrate Manley s career accomplishments – an impressive rise through the department from patrol officer to chief – others said his departure was overdue and that Manley s presence had slowed efforts to improve the culture of policing in the city and the department s relationships with communities of color.
Manley s last day on the job is scheduled to be March 28, a Sunday. The official word for his leaving is retirement, and the announcement came just days after the Austin native celebrated his 30th anniversary in the department. But Manley made clear during a Friday news conference that he will continue to work after leaving the department and
Council members voted to hire a third party to investigate bigotry within the force. At that vote, then-Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza said she had lost faith in Manley s ability to lead.
“I was an early supporter of Chief Manley, and I’ve been incredibly disappointed,” she said. “Repeated incidences by our department have really shaken my faith in many ways, and in some ways, I ve lost a lot of faith.”
A month later, the City Council asked the police department to stop citing people for low-level marijuana offenses after a state hemp law left the door open for prosecutors to stop pursuing these cases. Manley said police would not follow council s wishes and would continue abiding by drug laws. (He changed his mind half a year later, announcing police would no longer cite people for these type of offenses.)