By: Joseph Warta
Art Acevedo, chief of police for the City of Miami and outspoken gun control advocate, who famously feuded with the NRA, is going to be terminated, says the manager of the City of Miami.
Art Acevedo’s career took him from the California Highway Patrol, to chief of the Houston Police Department, to chief of police for Miami. Soon, his career will have an unexpected new stop: unemployment.
As chief of police in Houston, Acevedo made a name for himself as an opponent to law-abiding gun owners and an ally of anti-gun organizations, such as Mom’s Demand Action. His commitment to civilian disarmament even landed him a position on the board of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety.
Acevedo moved over to the helm of the Miami Police Department in March of 2021. Soon after his arrival as police chief, his feud with Miami City commissioners began.
The feud with the city commission boiled over when Acevedo wrote a scathing memo regarding the city commission’s interference in Miami Police Department issues. The memo attacked three city commissioners, and he even compared the City of Miami to Communist Cuba.
Soon after the memo was released, the city manager of Miami announced his suspension as police chief. The suspension will last for five days, until the city commission determines what to do next. They are expected to approve his firing.
Following his suspension, Mayor Francis Saurez, who once called Acevedo the “Tom Brady or Michael Jordan” of police chiefs, said: “While it is clear that Chief Acevedo has the qualifications and the experience to be an effective chief of police, it is also obvious that his personality and leadership style are incompatible with the structure of our city’s government,”
In addition, City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla released a statement which, in part, says, “The natural outcome of an arrogant and dishonest police chief was that he would be dismissed. His bad actions speak for themselves. Our city, our police officers and our residents will be better off as a result.”
Miami City Commissioner Manolo Reyes told WSVN-TV that, “The only thing we asked for him was to be a chief. Not to be a politician. Not to be a critic for any elected official, the judges and the state attorney. Just to do his job as a chief.”
The feud with the city commission was not his only flirtation with controversy. Acevedo angered officers recently with a statement on a radio show stating that officers should be vaccinated against COVID-19 or lose their jobs. As chief of police in Houston, he made headlines for attacking Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz over their positions on gun rights and their relationships with the NRA.
It is yet to be seen what Acevedo’s next move will be.