Should Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo Keep His Job? Survey Sent To Hundreds Of Police Officers
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A survey is being emailed to hundreds of City of Miami police officers who will weigh in on what they think about the job Police Chief Art Acevedo is doing and whether they think he should keep his job.
It is such a serious matter that the city commission has called a special meeting next week to talk about the chief.
Acevedo was sworn in as police chief months ago, the mayor called him the Michael Jordan of police chiefs.
"We will move people forward and select people from the division. Based on merits," said Acevedo. The rank-and-file says that has not happened. They say he tried to hire his friend and he has come down hard on the rank-and-file.
FOP President Sgt. Tommy Reyes said, "People demoted for no reason, a captain was rolled back to lieutenant for no reason at all and discipline has been handed it out like he was giving out Halloween candy."
The breaking point happen last month when the police union tweeted about him telling officers during the roll call that the Miami is run by the Cuban mafia.
The union chief is now asking members to do a vote of confidence on the chief.
"I hear mafia and I think, criminal enterprise. I think somebody is selling drugs or money laundering or I do not know of any of that going on."
The Miami city commission is set to talk about the future of the chief at a special meeting on Monday.
Commissioner Manolo Reyes says everyone will have a chance to weigh in, including the chief.
"We will hear from all parties and we will make a decision."
The commission cannot vote to fire the chief, if it comes down to that. That will solely be up to the city manager. However, the commission does have the power to fire the city manager if they choose.
Meanwhile, Reyes tells CBS4 that he was not happy with the way this process happened, how the chief was hired and basically jumped ahead of a lot of other candidates that were vetted.
Reyes wants to change the whole process of how the chief is picked in the future.