Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo Calls Out Commissioners In Scathing Memo Ahead Of No-Confidence Vote
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A special City of Miami Commission meeting was held Monday to discuss the future of Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo.
The meeting comes a day after Acevedo wrote a scathing memo calling out commissioners for reportedly interfering with internal affairs investigations.
City Commissioner Manolo Reyes said, "I want an investigation and I want an impartial and outside investigator of us and the chief."
The no-confidence vote meeting, held at Miami City Hall in Coconut Grove, was called by commissioners following controversial comments made by Chief Acevedo during a roll call, in which he said, "It's like the Cuban mafia runs Miami PD."
Commissioners informed him that the Castro regime refers to Cubans in the exile community as the Cuban mafia.
Chief Acevedo apologized on social media saying it was meant to be humorous and he didn't realize how offense the remark could be.
As a result, a survey was emailed to hundreds of Miami police officers, who weighed in on what they think about the job Chief Acevedo is doing and whether they think he should keep his job.
City Commissioner Joe Carollo said, "He thought we would continue to bow down to him so he could do whatever he wants. He thought there would on accountability."
Carollo also alleged that Acevedo was the subject of a lawsuit when he worked with the California Highway Patrol between 1996 and 2001. According to a document that Carollo showed, Acevedo allegedly show sexually explicit photographs to his superiors. The Miami city manager said he was not aware of this allegation.
However, Acevedo is turning the tables and wrote a scathing eight-page memo concerning some hirings and firings in his department and sent it Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and City Manager Art Noriega ahead of Monday's meeting.
In the memo, Acevedo claims that several city commissioners are interfering with an investigation to a Sergeant at Arms, Luis Camacho, he relieved of duty.
"These events are deeply troubling and sad," the chief wrote Friday to Mayor Francis Suarez and City Manager Art Noriega. "I have no choice but to memorialize and report the above series of improper acts, because the men and women of the MPD [Miami Police Department] and the wonderful community we serve, deserve leadership that is committed to the rule of law."
He also said that a second-in-command post he filled with former co-worker Heather Morris from Houston was eliminated by commissioners out of spite. Morris's hiring, some commissioners said, bypassed a host of qualified internal candidates.
Acevedo's memo said he has contacted the U.S. Department of Justice to review the city's internal affairs process and some questionable uses-of-force by officers.
As for the no-confidence vote, the commission cannot vote to fire the chief. That decision is solely be up to the city manager.
Former City Commissioner Richard Dunn also spoke, saying, "I believe he is a great law enforcement officer but the record shows this one individual has created all this controversy. It sets a dangerous precedent when one person can take control of the city."
