How Jesús Garza’s Puzzling Appointment of Art Acevedo Backfired

Then-APD Chief Art Acevedo at an anti-Trump rally where he was booed in November 2016 (photo by Jana Birchum)

Art Acevedo – the polarizing police chief who fled the Austin Police Department in disgrace eight years ago as a multitude of problems he let fester erupted into national scandal – landed an executive job at City Hall and had it taken away, all in less than a week.

It all began Friday, Jan. 19, when the Statesman broke the news that Acevedo had accepted a $271,000-a-year position as an interim assistant city manager overseeing APD – a new role created for him by interim City Manager Jesús Garza. By Tuesday, Jan. 23, following an escalating pressure campaign by community advocates that spurred City Council members into action, Garza was forced to do something he has resisted since receiving the interim manager appointment one year ago: bend to City Council.

Jan. 23, just 15 minutes before city officials were set to issue a legally mandated apology to survivors of sexual assault at an event (an apology that was the result of a settled lawsuit stemming from a decade of mismanagement at APD, mostly occurring under Acevedo’s watch), the former chief posted to social media that he was walking away from the job.

“Unfortunately, politics and power struggles have hindered our efforts to create real positive improvements for the people of this city,” Acevedo wrote in the statement. “That is why I have informed [Garza] that I cannot accept this position and will pursue other opportunities.”

What City Hall sources say is more likely is that at some point following a meeting between CMs Alison Alter, Ryan Alter, Paige Ellis, Natasha Harper-Madison, and Zo Qadri on Monday, Jan. 22, and the Tuesday apology, Garza called Acevedo and asked him to step away from the job.

In his interim role, Garza has made several executive decisions that irked Council, but with this one he finally overstepped the extraordinarily wide berth Council had thus far given him on other management decisions. Under immense pressure to reverse it, Garza did.

There are many crises and scandals Council and advocates pointed to throughout Acevedo’s tenure as APD chief – and beyond it – to persuade Garza to reverse course. Like the time, in 2014, he defended Austin police officers who had violently arrested a woman for jaywalking by insinuating it could have been worse – at least they didn’t sexually assault her. On a broader scale, Acevedo was criticized for his refusal to meaningfully address the ways in which the department failed victims of sexual assault – issues made public two years before he left APD. Issues so staggering in scale and harmful in effect that survivors filed a class-action lawsuit against the city in which Acevedo was a named defendant. (The city settled the lawsuit in 2022; one condition in the settlement was the public apology delivered Jan. 23.)

Under Acevedo’s leadership, APD detectives in the Sex Crimes Unit “cleared” rape cases, even though they had barely been investigated at all, at shocking rates. He then allowed the SCU sergeant who raised concerns about this practice internally to be reassigned. Management of the department’s DNA lab under Acevedo was so flawed dating back to 2010 that the city shut it down in 2016 and asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to take over that work. The years of mismanagement produced a backlog of some 3,000 rape kits, each of which represented a survivor who had justice in their case delayed or denied because of systemic failure at the lab and APD more broadly.

The list of concerns Council and community members had about Acevedo’s appointment is long and legitimate. In a statement to the Chronicle, Garza acknowledged Acevedo’s failed history in Austin – and defended the former chief’s response to it. “As Chief, Acevedo was very vocal about righting these wrongs as soon as they were brought to his attention,” Garza said. “Many of these came to light at the time he was leaving or after he left APD.”

But, more than anything, it was the timing of Acevedo’s hire that did him in – a decision sources say Garza made without consulting even Mayor Kirk Watson. Garza issued the memo to the mayor and Council announcing Acevedo’s return to City Hall just hours before the news would become public and four days before the public apology to survivors was to take place. The effect of that timing was emotionally traumatizing for survivors and politically catastrophic for Garza. Council is expected to discuss the hiring decision – and other issues relating to Garza’s job performance – in an executive session at next week’s regular Council meeting, Feb. 1. The public will have an opportunity to share their own concerns with Council about Garza’s performance during the meeting’s public comment period.

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza at a City Council meeting this summer (photo by John Anderson)

But was it mere incompetence? Or was it callousness toward survivors? Survivors who were plaintiffs in the high-profile lawsuit and advocates told us that the announcement – in such close proximity to the public apology – was itself re-traumatizing. Garza declined to answer our questions about the timing of his announcement, but per Acevedo’s statement, we do know that Garza offered him the job “earlier this month” (Acevedo announced he was stepping down as interim police chief in Aurora, Colorado, on Jan. 16).

Advocates and CMs were also concerned that Acevedo’s hire, intentionally or otherwise, would undercut the authority of APD’s current interim chief, Robin Henderson, a Black woman. Problems with Acevedo’s APD leadership were, after all, rooted in sexism and racism (gender-based assumptions affecting sexual assault cases, and police violence against Black and brown Austinites). If the Acevedo hire signaled a lack of faith in Henderson’s independent leadership, those who work with Henderson and her staff couldn’t see why. Advocates and her colleagues agree: She has made much more progress on improving the department’s response to sexual assaults than her predecessors. Her commitment to reform seems sincere and lasting, unlike that of prior chiefs Brian Manley and Joseph Chacon, who said they were committed to reform but failed to demonstrate that commitment through their actions, advocates told us.

Adding someone like Acevedo to the mix could jeopardize that progress, advocates feared. “Under Chief Henderson’s leadership, the Sexual Assault Response and Resource Team has seen more progress in improving APD’s response to sexual assault than under the previous three administrations combined,” wrote Shelli Egger and Emily LeBlanc, the co-chairs of SARRT, in a statement before Acevedo said he wouldn’t be taking the job.

In a statement, Garza said, “Henderson is in charge – and will continue to be in charge – of the Austin Police Department. Creating this Interim Assistant City Manager role is meant to bolster resources for the Chief and APD.” In her own statement, Henderson welcomed the support. “I appreciate the support and focus of the Interim Assistant City Manager role created by our City leadership as we all work to accomplish major priorities within APD,” Henderson said through a spokesperson, prior to Acevedo stepping down.

As city manager, Garza does not have to consult with Council on personnel decisions nor seek their approval – and in most cases, CMs wouldn’t expect the manager to do so. But the whole episode illustrates the value in city management working with elected representatives on high-profile decisions – something that has not been characteristic of Garza’s administration. CM Alison Alter, who has been a champion of the survivor cause for much of her time on Council, stressed that one of the most important lessons to be learned from the past week is that “due diligence is important” when it comes to making leadership changes.

“It’s not perfunctory,” Alter told us. “Particularly when we’re trying to make changes to the police department. We need to make sure that the processes that we follow reflect the importance of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

For Julie Ann Nitsch, one of the plaintiffs in the class-action suit brought by survivors, the saga has inspired cautious optimism. “I’m optimistic because the outpouring of support survivors saw from the community and elected leaders shows there is a possibility for real change,” Nitsch said. “Cautious, because Garza would be so incompetent, or have the audacity, to appoint this man to this job, right before the city apologizes to survivors.”