AUSTIN, Texas — After it was announced that former Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo would be returning to city leadership, some Austin City Council members took to social media to react to the news.
It was announced Friday that Acevedo was hired by the City of Austin to work as an interim assistant city manager. According to Interim City Manager Jesús Garza, the role is being created for Acevedo, and he will be tasked with overseeing the police department.
Austin City Council member Mackenzie Kelly posted on X, formerly Twitter, her support of Acevedo.
“I’ve known Art Acevedo to be a leader, I’ve known him to say things that might not be what people want to hear, but what they need to hear,” she wrote. “He has always been analytical on the decisions he makes based on facts.”
Kelly also posted a statement on her official X account, which reiterated her praise for the former police chief.
“During this critical time in our city, I would like to thank the Interim City Manager for proactively supporting the Austin Police Department,” the statement said. “I am optimistic that Art Acevedo, as Interim Assistant City Manager, will bring additional experience, knowledge, and support to the department.”
Council member Chito Vela III had a different reaction to the news. He said on X that he could not support the hiring of Acevedo.
“There are too many red flags from his previous tenures as police chief, both here and in other cities he’s served,” the post said.
Council member Alison Alter also took to social media saying she spoke with sexual assault survivors and advocates about Acevedo’s hiring, and she said the announcement was “retraumatizing” to many of them.
“For years I have been working with sexual assault survivors and advocates to address the consequences of the failures of Art Acevedo’s leadership at APD: the shutter of the DNA lab, intentional misuse of exception clearance, multiple survivor lawsuits, and the understaffing of victim services and the sex crimes unit,” the post said. “Today’s announcement came as a shock, and I fear it erodes years of work to rebuild trust and to keep our community safe.”
In 2018, three women sued the Austin Police Department (APD) and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office claiming that their constitutional rights were violated due to the two departments not pursuing their sexual assault cases. Acevedo was named in the lawsuit.
Back in 2011, during Acevedo’s time at APD, a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits were discovered. An April 2018 audit found serious flaws at the Austin Police DNA lab and said they were using outdated scientific practices.
City Councilwoman Paige Ellis echoed similar concerns as Alter saying she was “shocked” by the hiring.
“I am shocked by this decision, as Acevedo oversaw a department that caused rape kits to go untested for years and entrapped protestors, among other issues,” she wrote in post on social media. “I told Jesus Garza this is a bad call, and I guarantee that if it had come before council it would have a different outcome.”
Former council member and mayoral candidate Kathie Tovo called the hiring a “controversial decision.” She specifically noted that there was a lack of asking for input from the City Council and the community in general.
Acevedo’s tenure as Austin’s top law enforcement officer lasted from July 2007 to December 2016, and afterwards, he took over as chief of police in Houston and then Miami, where he was later fired after six months on the job.
Most recently, Acevedo worked as the interim police chief of Aurora, Colorado, but he resigned from that position this month to move back to Texas to be with family.
