Acevedo: ‘I’ve given my best’
Outgoing HPD chief emotional, combative as he heads to Miami
Art Acevedo wasn’t looking for another gig, he said Tuesday. Then, a few weeks ago, Miami called.
It was the city where, in 1968, he and his parents arrived, new immigrants to the United States.
“We went all the way to California, to Austin, came here,” Acevedo said, choking up as he reminisced.
During an emotional and at times combative press briefing — a textbook example of the chief’s bombastic, gregarious and heartfelt style — Acevedo explained his decision to leave the city where he has worked since 2016, and which has served as a launch pad onto the national stage.
Acevedo has had a national profile after he took on the NRA in the wake of mass shootings and accompanied marchers after the George Floyd killing. He sparred frequently on social media with politicians, criticized judges who he felt were too lenient on people accused of violent crimes and spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
He said he contemplated pursuing a job in the Biden administration; going back to Los Angeles, running for sheriff or working in the private sector. Instead he’s headed to Miami.
There, he will oversee a department of some
1,400 officers, about a quarter of the size of the Houston department. He’ll receive a pay bump — to $315,000 — along with a $50,000 relocation fee, a takehome car, and other perks, according to reports from Florida outlets.
Acevedo said his personal ties, the conversations with Miami leadership, and a desire to continue working in law enforcement motivated his decision.
“We really connected,” he said, of conversations with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and City Manager Art Noriega. Acevedo said Mayor Sylvester Turner’s dwindling time in office (his term ends January 2024) also helped sway the decision.
“When opportunity strikes, you have two choices, right?” he said. “You either seize upon an opportunity, or you don’t. When I leave I’m opening up a position with somebody else. And look, I’m not gonna ... justify it. I’ve got my own family reasons, my own reasons.”
He hopes to spend at least five years in Miami, he said.
‘Balance second to none’
As he reflected on his time in Houston, Acevedo noted the city’s proclivity for disaster, and praised the performance of his troops through the many emergencies and high-profile incidents over the past five years.
“If it can happen — other than a meteor strike, or an earthquake — it’s happened in Houston,” he said.
He praised the department’s officers for their handling of Hurricane Harvey and the protests last summer after Floyd’s death, which caused riots in cities across the country.
“This team that you see behind you, it didn’t allow this city to turn into a Katrina situation, where 75 percent of first responders went AWOL,” he said, gesturing at more than a dozen of the department’s top administrators.
He recalled the most tragic moments of his tenure — the deaths of six officers, and children who were murdered.
After 4 ½ years, I can tell you we’ve had missteps,” he acknowledged. “We’ve had tragedy, we’ve had problems in this dynamic profession — like any other profession — from Harding Street and beyond. But on balance, our department is second to none.”
“And so I leave with a great satisfaction in my heart that I’ve given my best,” he continued, choking up for a moment. “I’ve had the best team. And it’s hard to say goodbye. We’ve buried six officers. And we’ve buried children that have been shot.”
He also defended his performance and that of his subordinates in the wake of the city’s rising homicides and rising crime, heaping vitriol on a “broken” criminal justice system and blaming much of the problem on the region’s backlogged courts system and judges who he said are all too ready to give violent criminals personal recognizance bonds.
Acevedo said he believed that dynamic could fuel as many as 500 murders in Houston this year.
“If you want to march and you want to save lives, let’s march on the criminal courts building,” he said. “March on the DA’s office; march on the criminal justice system that is getting people hurt and getting people killed … Get those courts open. If ( judges) don’t want to work, get out. We have come to work every single day with COVID. We’ve lost four firefighters, we’ve lost a police officer, to our support team members. We’ve lost family members, you come to work? Why don’t you guys go into the courts camping out and asking these judges to get out of the shadow and start answering questions.”
‘Clear the way’
Acevedo said he also believed his departure would clear the way for one of his assistant chiefs to have an opportunity to lead the department.
“I hope that what’s next, and I think that what is next, is that one of these executive system chiefs will be the next chief of police,” he said, gesturing at Executive Assistant Chiefs Troy Finner and Matt Slinkard, who flanked him at the podium. “I’ve been praying for that.”
Acevedo said that the amount of time left in Turner’s term made it unlikely that the mayor would seek an outside candidate to lead the department.
Turner is expected to name Acevedo’s replacement later this week.
Both Finner and Slinkard have the support of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, according to HPOU President Doug Griffith.
“From a union standpoint, I think anyone in-house could do the job and be very effective,” Griffith said. “I think our two executive assistant chiefs would be a benefit to the department and do phenomenal job. They possess the skills to lead our organization.”
Law enforcement veterans say one factor they believe may prompt Turner to choose one of the two is that if he picked someone else within HPD, it would amount to an obvious vote of noconfidence in the two men, with whom he has worked for the last five years.
Turner’s remaining time in office is another consideration. Given the custom of new mayors to choose their own leadership when they take office, outside candidates are presumably less interested in a job that they know has an obvious expiration date of just a few years from now.
That would likely weigh into Turner’s decision, Acevedo said.
“I don’t know any major city chief with a lot of experience is going to come to a city with — by the time they get here — its going to be maybe two years left in that administration; move their families, uproot for two years. I just — I’m not sure what kind of what kind of candidate pool you’re going to get.”
Finner and Slinkard have both been in the department for decades, serving in numerous assignments during that time. Longtime law enforcement leaders described Finner as more outgoing, with a history of working in patrol or operations assignments, while Slinkard is known as a more reserved, analytical leader.
Different paths
Finner was sworn in as a Houston police officer in 1990; Slinkard joined four years later.
Finner’s career took him on patrol assignments in Southwest Patrol and South Gessner; he also handled assignments in Communication Services, Internal Investigations, Criminal Investigations and Public Affairs. Finner spent 12 years working as a patrol officer before being promoted to sergeant in 2002. He spent five years in that role before becoming a lieutenant, and then was promoted directly to assistant chief in 2014.
After Acevedo arrived, he tapped Finner to be one of his two top subordinates. Finner now oversees the department’s Field & Support Operations, which includes all of the department’s patrol commands, as well as the property room, fleet maintenance, the joint processing center and the traffic enforcement division.
Slinkard’s career took him on a more analytical path, with assignments in communication services, tactical support, Investigative and Special Operations, the Narcotics Division — where he worked as a lieutenant — as well as assignments in crime analysis and as former Chief Charles A. McClelland’s chief of staff. Slinkard was promoted to captain in 2009, then to assistant chief in 2011.
Acevedo tapped him as the department’s other executive assistant chief in January 2017, and he now oversees HPD’s Investigative & Special Operations command, which includes investigative units such as the Homicide Division, Burglary and Theft, Robbery. It also includes undercover divisions such as the Narcotics Division, Vice Division and Auto Theft Division.
Ray Hunt, the union’s former president, said Finner and Slinkard are “very close,” and work well together.
“I have no doubt if those two are the choices and Turner selects one, the other will remain supportive and remain with the police department,” he said.