Christiane speaks with Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo about why there is "no excusing" the killing of George Floyd and his vow to march with the Floyd family for justice.
Houston was founded by brothers Augustus and John Kirby Allen in 1836 and incorporated as a city the next year, 1837. While blaming the demonstrations, Acevedo said that the police department has seen a … The first constable of the then recently incorporated City of Houston was elected in 1837, making him the city's first law enforcement officer.
Acevedo said the situation was complex and he did not want to risk compromising investigations.“I am completely committed to transparency but transparency has to be done and handled in a manner where you don’t jeopardise accountability, because process matters,” he said. Among the demonstrators was the city’s police chief.Acevedo gives his opening statement as Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, listens during a House judiciary committee hearing on policing. The Houston Police Department was founded in 1841. Chief Acevedo leads a department of 5,200 sworn law enforcement officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel with an annual general fund budget of $825 million in the fourth largest city in the United States. He is married and has three children. “Once everything’s done, where we know we’re not going to jeopardise any outcome, I will absolutely release everything that the public wants to see.”Cities nationwide are grappling with how to enact police reform. Due to the weeks of protests over racism, the chief of the Houston Police Department, Art Acevedo, reportedly said that his own department has been recording a huge spike in coronavirus cases. About 45% of the population are Hispanic, 23% are African American and 7% are Asian.“Being the target of discrimination as a child and even as a member of the California highway patrol, I felt it was important to be out there and mourn the loss of George Floyd with our community,” he told the Guardian.“I’m the leader of the department and so if they’re angry with our department I’d rather they vent with me than at my young officers who had nothing to do with what happened in Minnesota. The police force itself was not established until 1841 by Houston's first marshal, Daniel Busley. Art Acevedo is currently the Chief of Police for the Houston Police Department (HPD) in Texas and was appointed by Mayor Sylvester Turner. Born in Cuba, he was four years old when he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1968. I will march until I can’t stand no more.”Donald Trump, meanwhile, urged governors to “dominate” protestors.“Let me just say this to the president of the United States on behalf of the police chiefs in this country,” Acevedo “I don’t want to see their little smug faces about how much they care about law enforcement when I’m burying a sergeant because they don’t want to piss off the NRA,” he said of senators stalling the reauthorisation of the Violence Against Women Act after an officer was Acevedo was born in Cuba in 1964 and moved to the US as a refugee aged four.
The first Hispanic police chief in the fourth-largest US city believes the death of George Floyd has created ‘a great awakening’Art Acevedo has attracted attention as an outspoken advocate for change after the killing of Floyd, a black man who was filmed gasping for breath under the knee of a white Minneapolis officer.Acevedo has a substantial platform as the chief of police in the fourth-largest US city and the president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, covering the US and Canada.“Policing, as imperfect as it is today, it is absolutely ages better than it was 34 years ago, but we’ve still got work to do,” Acevedo told the Guardian this week.
Then that venting turned into mourning, and mourning together.”Cellphone footage captured the shooting but images from police body cameras have not been released.
Acevedo subsequently grew up in California and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration from the University of La Verne in California.Acevedo began his law enforcement career with the California Highway Patrol in 1986 as a field patrol officer in East Los Angeles. As the city quickly grew, so did the need for a cohesive law enforcement agency. As a proponent of community policing, Chief Acevedo refers to the proven practice as “Relational Policing,” which is an opportunity to forge a relationship with each and every person a department member comes in contact with.
Prior to his nomination and appointment to lead the Houston Police Department, Chief Acevedo served nine years as the Chief of Police for the Austin, Texas Police Department from 2007 – 2016.Chief Acevedo has held various leadership positions with the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and is currently the President of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. 'Hang on to hope': Houston police chief Art Acevedo on race, reform and TrumpArt Acevedo raises his hand during the funeral procession for George Floyd.Art Acevedo raises his hand during the funeral procession for George Floyd.n scenes mirrored across the country, thousands mourned George Floyd and marched against racism and police brutality in Houston, where he was raised and buried. We ain’t going nowhere. Ultimately, he rose through the ranks and was named Chief of the California Highway Patrol in 2005. He was sworn into office on November 30, 2016, and leads a department of 5,300 sworn law enforcement officers and 892 civilian support personnel in the fourth largest city in the United States that has 671 square miles and an annual general fund budget of $899 million.Chief Acevedo firmly believes that good, two-way communication is vital for a successful community and steadily works to strengthen the bond between the community and its police department. I’ve got news for them.
When he became the chief of police in Austin, in 2007, his progressive stances seemed a good fit, though that department has Acevedo took charge in Houston in 2016, becoming the first Hispanic chief in a “minority-majority” city of 2.3m people.