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A business owner in Austin, Texas says police told him to collect his own evidence at the location of his broken-in store as it was due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Kirk Andrews, owner of Petticoat Fair Lingerie in upstate Austin, told KVUE News that he called authorities after his shop was robbed to ask him to put on gloves and look for cartridge cases as the police are unable to help due to the coronavirus could.
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“They phoned me again and said no one was coming out and said it was due to COVID restrictions that don’t make sense to me,” Andrews said.
Andrews said 911 told him to call 311 where he was told to put on gloves and look for cartridges and other evidence to give to the police.
“This is extremely frustrating for me,” said Andrews.
Andrews says his surveillance video on Saturday morning showed a white car pulling up to his store before a passenger shot out the window and grabbed clothes. The incident happened around 6 a.m. when no one was in the store.
Andrews added that his shop has been broken into several times and in the past he has been told by police that they “don’t have the manpower” to track down what they call “shoplifters”.
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In the past, Andrews said it took police two weeks to call him back and file a complaint after his shop was robbed.
Austin Police on October 1 stopped sending sworn officers on certain calls where there is no imminent threat, so uniformed officers can focus on serious calls and emergencies.
The city is currently plagued by a police shortage that Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon has described as a “crisis”.
The staff shortage was caused in part by the city’s move to cut funding for the police department and coincided with a surge in crime, including a homicide rate of over 90%.
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In November, Austin residents will vote on Prop A, which aims to restore police personnel and some units lost in the defunding in 2020.
“We are in the middle of the deepest police personnel crisis in Austin history,” Save Austin Now co-founders Matt Mackowiak and Cleo Petricek said in a statement to Fox News. “This is happening here during a historic wave of violent crime, as homicides have increased 80% from today’s record last year. Austin police morale is at an all-time low police budget cut of $ 150 million last year. ADP recently made the amazing announcement that due to the personnel crisis, they will no longer be able to respond to emergency calls unless it is a life threatening situation or the attacker is on the premises to risk their lives without the assistance they need to get the job done. Austin has to pass Prop A on November 2nd to fix this mess. “
The advocacy group founded by the liberal billionaire and financier George Soros has poured $ 500,000 into a campaign to thwart the proposal.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/austins-understaffed-police-tell-citizens-gather-evidence-crime-scenes-themselves
