Art Acevedo

On January 23rd Acevedo wrote on social media that he would no longer be taking the job, saying the new job had become a distraction.

Hubert Arturo Acevedo (born July 31, 1964) is an American police officer who was previously the interim chief of police of the Aurora Police Department, the chief of police of the Austin Police Department, Houston Police Department, and Miami Police Department.

Before becoming a police chief, he was a member of the California Highway Patrol.

Acevedo was born in Havana, Cuba in 1964, immigrating to the United States at age four with his family in 1968.

His father was a police officer in Havana.

Acevedo grew up in El Monte, California, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1985.

He attended Rio Hondo College, graduating in 1986 with an associate degree in communications.

Acevedo began his career as a field patrol officer in East Los Angeles with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) in 1986 after graduation from their training academy.

During the 2004 sexual harassment investigation, multiple officers stated that Acevedo, while on duty, showed them nude photographs of a fellow officer with whom he allegedly had an affair.

Acevedo denied showing the pictures.

In 2005, Acevedo graduated from University of La Verne with a bachelor's degree in public administration.

He rose to the rank of chief with CHP in 2005.

Acevedo was hired as chief of the Austin Police Department in 2007.

In 2008, Acevedo received a settlement of almost $1 million from CHP in connection to a harassment lawsuit.

The suit alleged that he was retaliated against by CHP commissioner Dwight "Spike" Helmick after applying for the position of CHP chief.

According to Acevedo's attorney, Helmick improperly shared information from a confidential investigation into sexual harassment claims against Acevedo.

Older "operation and judgment concerns" from August 2011 were mentioned as well.

During his time in Austin, Acevedo appeared on The Alex Jones Show to discuss policing on multiple occasions.

On January 19th 2024 news broke that Art Acevedo would be returning to Austin to act as "interim city manager over APD", with a salary of US$271,000 / year.

Mayor Kirk Watson said Acevedo "would help to strengthen the relationship between City Hall and the police as well as with the community".

The following day, Travis County DA Jose Garza and others raised strong objections to hiring Acevedo for the newly-created city position.

Garza said Acevedo's "return is a step backwards for survivors of sexual assault."

His remarks were made at an event honoring sexual assault survivors, some of whom had sued the City for failing to properly investigate sexual assaults during Acevedo's tenure as Austin Police Chief.

News of his return "clearly irked" half of City Council members and "stunned" the sexual assault survivors.

Following the February 8, 2016 shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old David Joseph, Acevedo fired officer Geoffrey Freeman, citing failure to follow policy.

Freeman appealed the firing, reaching a settlement in December 2016 that awarded him $35,000 and allowed him to work for other police departments.

In April 2016, Acevedo was officially reprimanded and punished by the Austin City Manager for his misconduct following the shooting with the potential to lose his job.

In November 2016, Acevedo was hired as police chief for the Houston Police Department (HPD), filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Charles McClelland.

Acevedo is the first person of Hispanic descent to lead the department.

Shortly after the indictment of Michael Bennett for shoving a security guard at Super Bowl LI, Acevedo gave a press conference where he called Bennett "morally corrupt."

Charges against Bennett were dropped in 2019.

In January 2019, HPD officers conducted the Harding Street raid, a no-knock raid that resulted in the deaths of two homeowners (Regina Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle) and injury of five officers.

The basis for the raid, that the couple were heroin dealers, later turned out to be false.

Acevedo initially refused to release an audit of the Narcotics Division, which had revealed widespread problems in the division.

The scandal was described by Houston Chronicle reporters as "one of the worst to hit HPD in years."

The veteran HPD officer, Gerald Goines, who led the raid based on false information, was initially praised by Acevedo for his courage despite a decades-long history of allegations of misconduct.

In June 2020, Nicholas’ brother, John, penned a Houston Chronicle editorial titled, “What about Harding Street raid?

Acevedo, Turner give soundbites on police brutality but stay silent about my sister’s death.” John Nicholas and Tuttle family sued the City of Houston the following year.

In January 2024, Acevedo said he'd been served with a subpoena to testify in the federal lawsuit and that he was "looking forward to providing testimony".

Acevedo received national attention for his public statements in support of meaningful reform in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, paired with significant criticisms for a lack of action locally to reduce police violence and increase transparency.