I was not expecting this.<\/p>\n
When last we left Art Acevedo, he was the new police chief in Miami.<\/p>\n
How’s that working out for him?<\/p>\n
Now Chief Acevedo is at the center of an archetypal Miami political drama, replete with references to Cuban Communism and corruption, that has roiled City Hall and threatened his job.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
…<\/p>\n
…the Miami imbroglio is not over policy. It is a clash of personalities between an ambitious new outsider and powerful city commissioners miffed over both Chief Acevedo\u2019s surprise appointment and his tendency to say exactly what he thinks.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
…<\/p>\n
Chief Acevedo has accused several commissioners of thwarting his attempts to \u201cchange the culture\u201d of the department, as he said he had been hired to do, by improperly meddling in personnel decisions.<\/a>
\n\u201cThese events are deeply troubling and sad,\u201d he wrote in an eight-page letter on Friday in which he denounced how commissioners tried to influence an internal affairs investigation and then retaliated by defunding top positions in the Police Department\u2019s budget. \u201cIf I or M.P.D. give in to the improper actions described herein,\u201d he added, \u201cas a Cuban immigrant, I and my family might as well have remained in Communist Cuba, because Miami and M.P.D. would be no better than the repressive regime and the police state we left behind.\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe commissioners can’t directly fire him, only the city manager can. But they can make things uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
…he wasted no time in generating controversy of his own. He terminated two high-ranking officers and demoted the department\u2019s second-highest-ranking female Black officer. He said his own department \u2014 rather than the Florida Department of Law Enforcement \u2014 should investigate police shootings. And he angered the police union by telling a local radio station that officers should get vaccinated against the coronavirus or risk losing their jobs.<\/a>
\nLast week, a majority of members polled by the Fraternal Order of Police said that they had no confidence in the chief and that he should be fired or forced to resign.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n…<\/p>\n
What especially incensed commissioners, in addition to the housecleaning at Police Headquarters, was when Chief Acevedo told a group of officers this summer that the department was run by a \u201cCuban mafia.\u201d The chief later apologized, saying he intended it as a joke and had not realized that Fidel Castro had used the same phrase to refer to Cuban exiles in Miami who opposed his Communist regime.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
…<\/p>\n
At one point, Commissioner Joe Carollo frame-grabbed a video clip of Chief Acevedo, taken before he worked in Miami, performing a raunchy dance at a fund-raiser. (In another clip, he was dressed like Elvis, prompting Mr. Carollo to tut-tut the tightness of the chief\u2019s pants.)<\/a>
\nA supporter of the chief at one point yelled at the dais and, as he stomped out of the chambers, extended a finger to the commissioners.<\/a>
\nMr. Carollo spent several hours reading news clippings and other documents about Chief Acevedo\u2019s record in law enforcement agencies in California and Texas, including at least one allegation of sexual harassment that the chief has denied. Mr. Carollo repeatedly asked Mr. Noriega if he had been aware of those controversies before hiring Chief Acevedo.<\/a>
\n\u201cNo, sir,\u201d Mr. Noriega responded.<\/a>
\n\u201cHe\u2019s not accountable to anyone,\u201d Mr. Carollo said of Chief Acevedo. \u201cHe\u2019s not accountable to the city manager, not accountable to the residents of Miami \u2014 not accountable, period.\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n…<\/p>\n