Police Chief Gives Pep Talk for Technology to Fight Crime

 Austin police chief Art Acevedo spoke to a crowd eager to hear his enthusiasm to catch four men who attacked two other men last weekend.  The attack took place as Matt Morgan and Emmanuel Winston left Oil Can Harry's, a popular gay bar downtown.  When they approached the City Hall area, where their car was parked, the suspects approached them and seized the opportunity to attack.  Morgan and Winston believe the suspect's motive was to beat them because of their sexuality.  Acevedo promised the crowd his department will do their best to catch the criminals, but they only have limited information at this time.

The four suspects remain anonymous and on the loose.  Acevedo said they have a very grainy, five second piece of video that shows the possible suspects.  "We're hoping that somebody out there will recognize these people and turn them in.  We're not going to stop until they're brought to justice," he said.

But Acevedo turned his intolerance against hate into a political message, telling the crowd his department needs the technology to fight crime.  

"If you let people keep telling you, don't give the police department technology it needs, it's big brother.  Let me tell you something.  We don't care about your sexual orientation, we don't care about your politics, we don't care about where you stand on anything as long as you're not breaking the law," said Acevedo.  "When you have guys like this, it's sad that it happens on a regular basis downtown attacking people unprovoked, we need the technology to bring these people to justice.  So when you're attacked for no reason other than your t-shirt or your sexual orientation, then we can say smile, you're on candid camera."

Acevedo encouraged people to talk to their city council representative to help fight hate crime with the use of technology.   "Austin is no longer a small city.  It is a big, big city.  And with a big city comes big city problems.  It's time for us to start leveraging the technology available in law enforcement to keep people safe," Acevedo said.