How will Miami’s next police chief fit in with the ego and politics of City Hall?
Miami’s next police chief is a camera-ready, tweet-slinging son of a Cuban cop unafraid to loudly speak his mind — and he’s headed to a City Hall known for big egos and short fuses.
Announced this week as a surprise pick, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo will add another large profile to Dinner Key when he starts the job in about a month. He’s drawn much media attention for criticizing the NRA, members of Congress and Texas judges. He spoke at the Democratic National Convention and told Houston reporters Tuesday that he’d considered pursuing a job in President Joe Biden’s administration or running for sheriff in Los Angeles.
Acevedo’s personality helped make him a media darling in Houston, part of the reason Mayor Francis Suarez blew up a national search to lure him to Miami. But in the Magic City — where Acevedo will likely need to work quickly to ingratiate himself with the city’s mayor and five commissioners — his bravado could be a liability.
“I piss off the left and the right, to be honest with you,” Acevedo, a Republican, said this week during his introductory press conference.
More often than not, Miami’s mayor and commissioners like the spotlight and promote themselves as the faces of city government, from social media broadcasts to Spanish-language radio. And they typically don’t care for city administrators’ controversial opinions or self-promotion.
“If you want to be a politician, take your uniform off and run for office,” Commissioner Manolo Reyes said Wednesday when asked about Acevedo. “There are questions. I have to be clear — I haven’t met the guy. I’m not judging the guy. I’m only giving my opinion from what I have read.”
Reyes, who skipped Acevedo’s introductory press conference, told the Miami Herald he’s worried Acevedo’s views may alienate members of the community.
The commissioner added that he was worried about Houston’s spike in homicides and displeased City Manager Art Noriega and Suarez quietly recruited Acevedo outside of a more public process requested by the commission. Regardless, he said the hiring of a police chief is ultimately Noriega’s call, and he hopes to question Acevedo directly soon.
“I expect that he’ll do the best for the city of Miami, and the police department, and that he works in a professional way and conducts himself in a very professional manner,” Reyes said.
‘ONCE THEY GET TO KNOW ME’
In an interview Wednesday, Acevedo said he appreciated Reyes’ concerns, and that he has deep respect for municipal elected officials because average citizens expect City Hall to deliver basic services, regardless of anyone’s political leanings.
Acevedo — only the second outsider brought in to run the Miami Police
Department in the last half-century — insisted policing is his focus, and he said he’ll concentrate on complimenting the commission’s work. He pointed to speculation that he’d run for office in Austin and Houston, saying he’s been approached about it several times but never ran.
“I think once they get to know me, they’re going to realize that I will be singing their praises,” said Acevedo, who’s already tweeting salutations at city officials. “I hope they will invite me to be at their events and our officers to be at their events.”
Acevedo, who can come off as genial, wholehearted and combative at once, enters Miami at a politically docile time, with commissioners and the mayor mostly working together during the pandemic. But before the novel coronavirus emerged, City
Hall was combustible, sometimes erupting in shouting matches.
“If you’re somebody who’s spirited and likes to be engaged, and you have too many of those in one room, it can get awfully loud,” said Jorge Colina, who retired as chief in February. Colina represented his department in front of the commission during twice-monthly public meetings. Things got heated a few times, like in 2019 when he tussled with Commissioner Joe Carollo after the commissioner implied cops were protecting Little Havana club owners with code violations.
Now, two years later, Colina said any police chief has to have a thick skin and be mindful of making any statements that might alienate residents and elected officials. It’s a balancing act between defending the rankand-file and recognizing that in City Hall, commissioners want to run the show.
“A lot of our electeds are really, really engaged,” Colina said. “They’re not hands off, and that’s where that kind of kicks in. I could be up there and think [of commissioners], ‘Who’s the chief? What is your law enforcement experience?’ That happens. It’s just natural.”
KEEPING THE BOSS(ES) HAPPY
Colina also noted that Acevedo’s direct boss, Noriega, will help the chief set the tone — though that might mean little buffer between commissioners and Acevedo. A sharp contrast to his new police chief, Noriega is fairly camera-shy and prefers to let Suarez and the commissioners do all the talking.
Noriega’s predecessor, Emilio Gonalez, was more like Acevedo. A former George W. Bush administration official, Gonzalez tweeted everything from city announcements to pictures posing with state and federal government bigwigs — habits that grated on some commissioners and preceded his resignation under pressure. Just shy of 100,000 Twitter followers, Acevedo isn’t afraid to make news online.
When asked this week about Acevedo’s penchant for public statements, Carollo — who, when he was mayor in the late 90s, once had to fire his city manager thrice because the city commission kept rehiring him — offered no criticism and emphasized Acevedo deserves a chance to prove his worth..
“I’m not concerned about his public statements,” said Carollo. “I’m concerned about whether he knows how to run a police department — and he knows how to run one.”
Commissioner Alex
Díaz de la Portilla offered no initial impression of Acevedo, only reiterating that it is Noriega’s sole responsibility to select a chief, and he looks forward to Acevedo “serving our community with the professionalism, understanding , and respect it deserves.”
Acevedo received only praise from commissioners Ken Russell and Jeffrey Watson, who called him the perfect chief for a moment when cities need to build stronger relationships with the community. Watson applauded Acevedo’s outspokenness.
“I saw an interview that he did last week pretty much telling the Texas governor that he was a joke,” Watson told reporters this week. “And I knew then that he was a pretty good guy.”
Acevedo said his frank manner might be a turnoff for some, but he aims to be inclusive. He argues that ticking off people on the left and right equals resonating with a broader swath of people in the center. To those across Miami’s political spectrum, he cautioned against slapping simplistic labels on him.
“Don’t confuse being progressive with being weak on crime,” he told the Miami Herald.
Still, Acevedo’s success will hinge on his ability to satisfy commissioners as much as his skill at getting buy-in from his troops.
“The one thing I’ll tell him,” Suarez said, “is don’t ever let yourself get dislocated from the elected officials, your bosses, who were elected.”
Joey Flechas: 305-376-3602, @joeflech