Travis County commissioners approved $115,000 in extra security funding for District Attorney José Garza earlier this year after meeting in secret to discuss the measure, according to multiple reports this week.
Commissioners reportedly reviewed evidence showing that Garza had received threats to his home and publicly voted on the measure in March.
The measure passed unanimously with no public discussions about the allocation of public money. County records cited by KVUE, which reported on the story, show that $115,000 was moved to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
District Attorney Jose Garza in Austin (Spencer Selvidge for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Despite county officials’ vow of transparency, KVUE and the Austin American-Statesman found themselves stonewalled when requesting documents showing what specific threats made the additional security funding necessary.
The DA’s office likewise did not respond to Fox News Digital when asked for clarification on the matter.
Though Travis County does not have a specific policy for district attorneys, judges or other elected officials using taxpayer money for security enhancements, it is not a common practice.
Attorney Bill Aleshire, who was a Travis County judge from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, told KVUE he knows of other county officials who “have used their own money to improve security at their home.”
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials and advocates have also deemed the security funding ironic, given the perception of Garza’s hostility toward law enforcement and soft-on-crime policies.
“So, José Garza wants to be protected from the criminal environment he’s incubated and defended,” Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, told Fox News Digital.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza (Travis County DA Website/File)
“The irony is unreal. A district attorney who screams about transparency and actively works against law enforcement – asks for over $100k in taxpayer money to help him feel safer,” Michael Bullock, president of the Austin Police Association, wrote on X.
When interviewed by Fox News Digital, Bullock described Garza as “arguably one of the most aggressively anti-law enforcement DAs in the country.”
“The light-handed plea deals have made the work of APD investigators and detectives extremely difficult, all at the expense of people who are really the victims,” Bullock said.
He added that the general sentiment among officers is that it’s ironic that Garza is “probably one of the primary contributing factors to the public safety crisis right now …”
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“And yet he’s getting a higher level of investment in his own personal safety versus what he’s willing to give the average citizen,” Bullock said. “It’s incredibly frustrating for officers.”