Art Acevedo, former Austin police chief, returns to city in new role

AUSTIN, Texas - Former Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo has been named the new assistant city manager, sources tell FOX 7 Austin.

In his new role with the city, sources say Acevedo will be overseeing the Austin Police Department.

Acevedo served as Austin police chief for nine years, from July 2007 to December 2016 when he took over as police chief in Houston.

He came to Austin at a critical time. The city was experiencing its most deadly month murder-wise in six years and the Department of Justice had just announced it would be launching an investigation into complaints of racial disparity in officer-involved shootings.

Acevedo made it clear back then he would run a transparent department.

"My number one goal was to be visible to the community and visible to the organization, and to get the information because I want to have a certain comfort level when we use deadly force that the force was appropriate," said Acevedo in August 2007.

After serving as police chief in Houston, Acevedo became a CNN law enforcement analyst.

He also served as police chief in Miami and interim chief in Aurora, Colorado.

Acevedo will also report to Interim City Manager Jesus Garza. Acevedo says he missed Austin and his family and wanted to come back to help out.

In a city memo, Garza says APD deserves to have this "focused level of support" in the midst of staffing and recruitment challenges.

"This is a different role. I'm not the chief of police. I don't plan on being all vocal out there. I want to be more of an administrator and, quite honestly, hopefully an asset to everyone involved to get some work done," Acevedo said.

He faces controversy in his previous roles in Houston and Miami. 

"[In Miami], I did have some lessons learned, where I encountered absolute corruption that I had to report, blew the whistle. I know a lot of people took great joy watching me get fired. But I've always said we don't come to work to do a job, come to work to keep our job. You have complete control of your integrity," he said.

His last day with Aurora police is Jan. 22. 

District 6 Council Member Mackenzie Kelly says he will be paid $271,000 for his new role. 

"I absolutely think that if we're going to be spending money, that it is to help APD, and they need all the support they can get," she said.

Acevedo says he plans to advise on getting a police contract and improving the department. 

"I think that everyone's ready to move the department forward and get all the work done," he said.

However, not all council members support his hire.

"We saw the DNA lab fiasco. We saw a sharp increase in exceptional clearance of our sexual assault cases. We saw understaffing of our victim services and our sex crimes unit. All of those are things that happened under his watch, as well as lawsuits against the city," District 10 Council Member Alison Alter said. "There are challenges that our police department faces that we need to invest in. It is not clear to me that bringing Acevedo in above Chief [Robin] Henderson is actually going to help address those challenges."

Acevedo says he plans to bridge the gap.

"I look forward to building the relationships and building trust, not just with elected officials, but with all the stakeholders," he said.

Council Members shared their reactions on X.

Travis County DA Jose Garza also reacted to the news, sharing this statement:

"Over five years ago, survivors of sexual assault were forced to sue Police Chief Art Acevedo because he failed to adequately investigate the crimes committed against them and countless other victims of sexual violence. On his watch, a backlog of untested rape kits grew, and a culture of disrespect for survivors of sexual assault festered. As a result, too many survivors were re-victimized and traumatized by the system that was supposed to protect them.

"Art Acevedo’s return is a step backward for survivors of sexual assault. His appointment represents a stunning disregard for their pain and our community's values. Even if Art Acevedo is coming back, we are never going back. Our office has increased the number of sexual assault convictions, and we are building a criminal justice system where survivors are treated with dignity and respect. 

"We will continue our work of strengthening communication between survivors, law enforcement, and prosecutors, fixing our broken criminal justice system, and we will succeed."