Art Acevedo
Chief, Houston Police Department
Houston Chief of Police Art Acevedo has proven his fidelity to police reform and transformation and has put a number of initiatives in place in the Houston PD which can serve as a model for those seeking meaningful reform.
Accomplishments
- First hispanic to lead the Houston Police Department
- Named by the Carnegie Corporation as a “Great Immigrant;Great American.
- Established”relational policing as a new approach for the Houston PD
- Elected President of the Major City Chief’s Assn. in 2019
Art Acevedo: Reflections
- “I’m convinced that there’s a correlation between the introduction of police forces into the school environment and the dropout rate. We didn’t used to have police officers in the school. We’ve criminalized adolescent behavior in our country to a great extent. Police officers should not take the place of administrators, counselors, or teachers.”
- “Being progressive on public safety does not mean coddling dangerous people. I spend a lot of time in communities of color—I am a person of color—and
- communities of color that have economic challenges, socioeconomic challenges. And what prosecutors need to know is these communities don’t want to be victimized.”
- “I want to be a twenty-first-century police chief. I think most police chiefs today, what they want to do is change from the “Hey, let’s be tough on crime” mind-set to a mind-set of “Let’s be appropriate on crime. Let’s be strategic on crime. …To me, being progressive means that when it comes to people who aren’t hurting others, we need to focus on the restorative approach, to help them get their lives on track.”