A surprise departure
Turner caught off guard by police chief ’s move, plans to name successor this week
Police Chief Art Acevedo’s abrupt announcement that he was going to leave caught his boss by surprise and was news to many Miami officials conducting a nationwide search for a chief.
Acevedo hadn’t formally applied for the Florida job, and the much smaller Miami department wasn’t what the Houston political community expected as the next step in the chief ’s career.
Acevedo informed Mayor Sylvester Turner of his decision around 5 p.m. Sunday, the mayor said at a news conference Monday, acknowledging he had received no prior hint about his police chief’s departure. Acevedo never formally applied to be Miami’s top cop and was not on anyone’s radar there, “other than just a few people at City Hall,” the Miami Herald reported Monday.
“I hate to see him leave the city of Houston,” Turner said. “But I also realize this is an excellent, extraordinary opportunity for him at a time when he is one of the nation’s leading voices in law enforcement.”
Turner said Acevedo will stay in Houston for a few more weeks. He said he would announce a new chief by the end of the week, though he declined to say whether it would be an interim or permanent replacement, or from inside the department or elsewhere. Former Chief Charles McClelland said, “There’s certainly enough talent and leadership
within HPD to move forward.”
Turner downplayed the significance of the chief’s departure, while praising his tenure in Houston.
“No one person is indispensable,” Turner said. “It is about the organization and the institution that you put together.”
Houston political observers have speculated about the chief ’s political future since he took over , and it was widely assumed he was positioning himself to run for mayor or a different elected office in Texas.
Some framed the move as lateral at best, given that the Miami Police Department is about a third the size of Houston’s.
At a Miami press conference announcing Acevedo’s appointment, Mayor Francis Suarez called Acevedo “the best chief in America” and predicted that Acevedo would make the Miami department “the best on the planet.”
Acevedo said at the Miami news conference that he “wasn’t looking for this opportunity” but had begun thinking about his next move, given that Turner’s second and final term expires at the end of 2023.
“Politics are not in my heart, because as you know I have no home. I piss off the left and the right, to be honest with you, because they’re both extreme,” said Acevedo, who came to Houston in late 2016 after leading the Austin Police Department. “But service is in my heart and making a difference is in my heart.”
Acevedo’s move comes amid controversy over his handling of the Houston Police Department. Though the chief ’s calls for “meaningful reform” and numerous viral moments earned him praise last year from some police reform advocates, he was criticized for not releasing body-camera video of officer shootings and saying he did not think the police department needed stronger independent oversight.
He has also faced a mounting wave of murders, which have reached their highest point in 15 years, while the homicide division’s clearance rate has fallen substantially over the last decade. And the chief has weathered — but not overcome — the scandal from a botched 2019 drug raid that left two homeowners dead and an officer charged with murder. The city remains enmeshed in lawsuits, while 12 current and former officers have been charged with crimes related to the raid.
Gerry Birnberg, a Houston criminal defense attorney and member of the city’s Independent Police Oversight Board, said a rancorous relationship between HPD’s administration and its rankand-file may have made Acevedo’s job “not much fun.” He also noted Acevedo, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba at age 4, would be moving to a city with a large Cuban immigrant population.
“I can see how he would be inclined to get into a less toxic environment than that job currently entails,” Birnberg said. “That’s a pretty pleasant gig he’s going to, with no, as I understand it, financial penalty. … Moving on to Miami, even if it’s not moving up, did not strike me as an irrational life decision.”
Acevedo’s replacement will inherit a department of more than 5,000 officers, which Turner has pledged to grow even amid calls from activists to divert funding to other city departments in the wake of former Houston resident George Floyd’s death in Minnesota last year. The mayor has said he plans to fund six police cadet classes next fiscal year, instead of the usual five.
Last year, Turner convened a task force to recommend reforms to the police department and said he supported “almost all” of the recommendations laid out by the group in October. On Monday, he defended the slow progress of implementing the reforms, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent winter storm.
“Many of those things are being implemented as we speak,” Turner said.
Ashton Woods, founder of the Houston chapter of Black Lives Matter, said Turner has had plenty of time to take action on the reform measures. A vocal critic of Acevedo, Woods said he found the chief did not live up to his reputation in some circles of being accessible, nor to the national acclaim he received for marching with protesters last summer after Floyd’s killing.
Woods said quarterly meetings between the chief and activists, which happened under McClelland, came to a stop under Acevedo’s leadership.
“I hope the people in Miami are ready for someone who is about media grandstanding,” Woods said. “The same people Chief Acevedo marched with were the people being kenneled downtown (later that night). … Some people will miss him, other people won’t. I won’t miss him.”
Alán de León, an advocate with MOVE Texas, said he hopes the next chief takes reform seriously and is transparent with the public, two qualities in which he said he found Acevedo lacking.
“We’re still falling behind. I would like to see in particular the next police chief not only work together with community stakeholders to improve … but (also) to be willing to scale back the responsibilities that police officers have.”
The mayor’s task force, de León pointed out, recommended the department expand its crisis call diversion program, which pairs certain 911 callers in crisis with mental health counselors; increase the number of mobile crisis outreach teams, which sends a team of mental health professional to scenes in lieu of police officers; and boost the number of crisis intervention teams, which pair an officer with a mental health clinician. None of those items has been implemented yet, de León said.
Turner will have full control over picking Acevedo’s replacement, though the new chief must be confirmed by City Council. Council members in Houston are typically loath to go against the mayor.
Still, council members were already beginning to offer their advice on the selection Monday. District G Councilmember Greg Travis floated the idea of promoting one of the current executive chiefs, Troy Finner or Matt Slinkard. Acevedo seemed to suggest them as well, saying in his farewell note to officers that they are ready to lead.
Vice Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum, who represents District K in southwest Houston, said she would like the city to hire a Black chief.
“There are qualified African American women that could lead the city’s police force,” Castex-Tatum.
At-Large Councilmember Letitia Plummer, who pushed most aggressively for police reform during last year’s budget debate, said reform should be top of mind in selecting a new chief. She said it needs to be someone who is openminded and will help implement the recommendations from the task force Turner appointed last year.
District F Councilmember Tiffany Thomas said she thinks the mayor is aware of that need. She said she would like to see someone promoted from within the department who understands its challenges and gaps.
“I think he’s very sensitive to that and will make the very best recommendation to present before council,” Thomas said.