Feb 2024. Blues Vol 40 No. 2

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK ASS-CEVEDO IS BACK Just when you thought we were done with Art ASScevedo, the damn dude is headed back to Texas. To some made up frickin’ BS job in Austin. Quite frankly, if I were the ATX Police Chief, I would be pissed. Who in the hell needs Art Acevedo telling anybody how to run their department. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Acevedo is a like a wandering Gypsy, traveling this great country seeking his next Chief of Police job. But he sucks as a chief. He failed as Austin’s police chief from 2007- 2016. Left Austin to become Houston’s chief in 2016 and stayed until 2021. He was one of the worst police chiefs in the history of HPD. In ’21 he packed his bags and headed for Miami which didn’t last long. He was fired after only six months. Next, he tried being an onair analyst for CNN. The perfect place for a washed-up liberal police chief, but even there he didn’t cut it. His next stop was interim police for Aurora Colorado, one of the most liberal cities in America. Acevedo says he was leaving because he wanted to return to Texas to spend time with his family. According to news reports, Acevedo is returning to Austin, Texas to fill a newly created position to oversee the police department. So why in the hell is ATX bringing the ASS back? I mean thank God it isn’t in Houston, but our brothers and sisters in Austin don’t want him either. An Austin officer texted me when the news broke and said they were considering throwing a roadblock up on I35. “Let’s station people at the airport, bus stations and train stations. Roadblocks on all highways and interstates and issue a BOLO for one Art Acevedo.” When we featured Acevedo in our November 2021 issue, (https:// www.yumpu.com/en/document/ read/65957865/nov-2021-blues-vol- 37-no-11) he had just been fired from Miami when he referred to his bosses as the Cuban Mafia. I really didn’t know much about Acevedo before he came to Houston. Only that he was chief in Austin for almost 10 years and the city council loved him. The rank-andfile cops, not so much. But once I started digging and researching him for the article, it became obvious that Acevedo was a piece of work. He started his police career with the CHP in California and worked his way quickly to assistant chief. But he wanted to be the top dog and was one of the top candidates to replace retiring California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick. But that came to a grinding halt when a story in the LA Times detailed his relationship with a female CHP officer and the sexual harassment claims that followed. The article stated Acevedo had been investigated for allegedly showing nude photographs of a fellow CHP officer to other high-ranking officers while on duty. Claims filed with three state agencies allege that Acevedo kept sexually explicit Polaroid photographs of the woman in the glove box of his state-issued car and showed them to other supervisors after the affair ended. Needless to say, he didn’t get the job and moved to Austin and became chief. BREAKING: Now it seems everyone on the Austin City Council, the PD and even the custodian at Austin City Hall, hated the idea of Acevedo coming back, so the deal is dead. BUT. Acevedo said he is still returning to Austin to be with his family. 6 The Blues - February ‘24

The Blues - February ‘24 7