Know Your Rights Community Input
Know Your Rights Community Input
Austin Police Oversight is updating its Know Your Rights materials for 2026. We need your input to ensure the new materials are clear, accessible, and community-informed. Learn more about this initiative and ways you can participate!
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Why This Matters?
In today’s world, accurate information about your rights—and what to do if they’re violated—is more important than ever. The mission of Austin Police Oversight (APO) is to provide impartial oversight of the Austin Police Department’s conduct, practices, and policies—enhancing accountability, informing the public, and building sustainable partnerships with the community.
We make it easy, safe, and accessible for Austinites to share their experiences with APD. As part of this work, APO is updating Austin’s Know Your Rights (KYR) materials for 2026 — resources designed to empower every resident with clear, practical, and culturally relevant information.
Your voice matters. Your input helps us:
- Identify what information people need during police encounters
- Pinpoint what feels unclear or missing
- Make KYR resources more accessible and community-centered
- Understand how different communities prefer to receive this information
Your feedback will directly shape the next version of Austin’s KYR resources, ensuring they reflect the lived experiences, needs, and voices of Austin’s diverse communities.
Looking ahead, our goal is for these materials to evolve with the community, adapting to changing circumstances and challenges so that all Austinites can feel informed, prepared, and empowered.
Austin, We Need Your Help!
- View the current KYR resources on the Austin Police Oversight website
- Share your input through our survey, focus groups and other engagement opportunities.
Your feedback ensures the updated materials are clear, accessible, and truly reflective of our community’s needs. Every voice matters in creating resources that inform, protect, and empower Austin residents.
Frequently Asked Questions
Know Your Rights (KYR) is a community-education initiative powered by Austin Police Oversight that provides community members with clear, accessible information to help understand their rights and responsibilities during interactions with law enforcement in Austin.
APO is relaunching the KYR toolkit for 2026 to ensure the content reflects community needs, lived experiences, and changing information needs. Community feedback will guide what we update, clarify, or add.
Any Austin resident is welcome to take the survey or register for a focus group. We especially welcome participation from communities that may have different or historically underrepresented experiences with police encounters.
Your input will help APO identify what information is unclear, what content is most needed, and how residents prefer to receive KYR information. All feedback is used only to inform the updated KYR materials and will remain anonymous.
Yes. Survey data is confidential and reported without identifying individuals. Focus group notes also do not include names or personal identifiers.
No. We welcome input from anyone, regardless of experience. We want to understand both what people know and what people want to know.
Currently, compensation is not available for focus groups. However, your time and participation are deeply appreciated and will directly support the development of future KYR resources.
You can visit APO’s website at www.atxpoliceoversight.org or email us at OPO.outreach@austintexas.gov for more information or support.