When Police Chief Art Acevedo joined the Austin Police Department in July 2007 the department was plagued by excessive spending and allegations of excessive force. The department’s reputation was so tarnished under former chief, Stan Knee they were even being investigated by the ACLU for possible misconduct. Although, to Knee’s credit under his guidance Austin became America’s third safest city according to F.B.I. statistics. However, the reputation of our police department was faced with much criticism. Acevedo has been in charge of the two thousand or so APD officers for a bit more than a year now and it would appear that things have changed under his watch.
There have been many significant changes within the Austin police force over this last year and many of them appear to be for the better. The new police chief has worked rigorously on reducing the departments spending in order to balance a budget which finds itself lacking on a regular basis. Acevedo centralized many operations and implemented better, more efficient overtime policies to reduce spending. Acevedo has worked to close disciplinary loopholes which were commonplace under previous administrations. Under the previous police chief the department was accused of being too lenient or too harsh on offices accused of misconduct. The system was in a sense, arbitrary and has been referred to as “favoritism”. Acevedo has worked hard to create a uniform and fair policy for discipline which the officers can rely upon. There have also been many visible changes under Acevedo’s leadership. The department has enacted new search policies and reformed others which lent themselves to racial-profiling. More recently Acevedo has begun to implement a “cite and release” program, a program which would give the officers the discretion to simply cite a suspect or take them to lockup for processing. This will save officers countless hours of transportation and paperwork. There have also been more visible changes to the police force, such as new uniforms and cars (those new black and whites are super menacing). Although Acevedo approves of the new look these changes were in the works before he came along. Under Acevedo’s guidance the Austin Police Department has been named a “Flagship Agency” by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. This is most certainly good for our police force’s image as well as our cities. When Acevedo was confirmed back in July of 2007 he said it was time to turn a new leaf, or something to that affect. It is clear that the department has most certainly come a long way. Chief Acevedo deserves a passing grade for his efforts.
There have been many significant changes within the Austin police force over this last year and many of them appear to be for the better. The new police chief has worked rigorously on reducing the departments spending in order to balance a budget which finds itself lacking on a regular basis. Acevedo centralized many operations and implemented better, more efficient overtime policies to reduce spending. Acevedo has worked to close disciplinary loopholes which were commonplace under previous administrations. Under the previous police chief the department was accused of being too lenient or too harsh on offices accused of misconduct. The system was in a sense, arbitrary and has been referred to as “favoritism”. Acevedo has worked hard to create a uniform and fair policy for discipline which the officers can rely upon. There have also been many visible changes under Acevedo’s leadership. The department has enacted new search policies and reformed others which lent themselves to racial-profiling. More recently Acevedo has begun to implement a “cite and release” program, a program which would give the officers the discretion to simply cite a suspect or take them to lockup for processing. This will save officers countless hours of transportation and paperwork. There have also been more visible changes to the police force, such as new uniforms and cars (those new black and whites are super menacing). Although Acevedo approves of the new look these changes were in the works before he came along. Under Acevedo’s guidance the Austin Police Department has been named a “Flagship Agency” by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. This is most certainly good for our police force’s image as well as our cities. When Acevedo was confirmed back in July of 2007 he said it was time to turn a new leaf, or something to that affect. It is clear that the department has most certainly come a long way. Chief Acevedo deserves a passing grade for his efforts.
1 comment:
I have a report card on him as well (composed last July) at debmocracy.statesmanblogs.com
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