Acevedo Keeping APD Honest

Since accepting the position last summer, Chief of Police Acevedo has personally fired or coerced the resignation of over a dozen officers in the Austin Police Department. All of the officers in question have received this punishment after a breach of ethics on their part; from lying on an official report to excessive force, these men and women disgraced themselves and the city they served. In sharp contrast, however, these same officers may well have kept their jobs with little, if any punishment under the previous leadership of APD. Because of this perceived reversal of the old "us against them" mentality in the department, Chief Acevedo is widely viewed as an honest man bringing discipline and honor to his command. In this article posted in the Austin American-Statesman Editorials, the author clearly assumes this opinion, citing the case of Gary Griffin, a former APD officer who was fired in 2006 when it was determined that he used excessive force against a mentally ill man, costing Austin taxpayers $55,000 in the defendant's civil suit against the city. From the beginning, the author underscores Mr. Griffin's hypocracy by detailing how, under the former Police Chief Stan Knee and then-acting chief Cathy Ellison, the officer was reinstated and is currently suing the city himself. The author contrasts this with Chief Acevedo's no-nonsense policy on police misconduct and his lofty record of firings based on inappropriate conduct. In this editorial, the subject of APD officer misconduct and it's consequences is justly evaluated and presented to the residents of Austin, whom it may very well affect for years to come.