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APD academy reform: most Kroll recommendations implemented, community advisory council to begin
Summary
APD training leaders told the Public Safety Commission they have implemented 80 of 84 Kroll recommendations, are 66% complete on a set of 112 tasks in phase 2, and will begin a Community Advisory Council (CAC) process this month as part of curriculum review.
Assistant Chief Josette Gasol and APD training staff updated the Public Safety Commission on progress implementing recommendations to reform the police academy and on new curriculum-review structures.
Josette Gasol, assistant chief over the training academy, said APD has implemented 80 of the 84 recommendations from Kroll and related reviews; four items remain with three on hold for facility-related budget needs and one declined (an adjustment to cadet lunch breaks). Program manager Robert McGrath said phase 1—foundational staffing, curriculum review committees and internal audit protocols—was complete and that phase 2 contains 112 tracked tasks of which 66% are complete.
McGrath described the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC), which pairs contracted subject-matter experts (SMEs) with internal APD staff to review and improve courses within TCOLE requirements. Contracted SMEs named in the presentation include Dr. Sean Roche, Dr. Andrea Marsh and Dr. Lucia Summers. McGrath said the PAC and the soon-to-launch Community Advisory Council (CAC) will systematically review cadet courses; the CAC’s initial three members are Elaine Lofton (African American Youth Harvest Foundation), Dr. Kevin Foster (UT Austin) and Bill Price (Downtown Austin Alliance).
Data and evaluation: Dr. Madison Doyle, senior research analyst at the academy, described class-level reporting that will include demographic data, retention and attrition, injuries, academic and defensive-tactics performance and pre‑/post-surveys. Doyle said course and instructor rubrics are being finalized and that the academy plans to begin structured course and instructor evaluations once rubrics are complete; she characterized the goal as producing timely class reports and building a retrospective dataset for comparisons across classes.
Why it matters: APD leaders said the PAC/CAC model aims to incorporate subject-matter expertise and community values into course review while complying with Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) requirements; commissioners pressed for robust community participation and timely course evaluations.
Ending: APD scheduled the CAC’s first meeting for March 11, 2025 and said that by October 2026 roughly half of APD’s cadet curriculum (21 of 43 TCOLE‑required courses) will have undergone SME review. Commissioners encouraged the department to expand CAC membership and ensure community observers can participate in course reviews where appropriate.
