Miami police chief being fired after 6 months on the job

MIAMI — Miami officials have decided to fire the city’s new police chief six months into his stormy tenure, after he was lambasted by the city commissioners he accused of meddling in the police department and internal affairs investigations. “Chief Acevedo is not the right fit for this organization.” Art Acevedo was recruited by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who earlier this year hailed him as “America’s best chief.” He was seen as a progressive law enforcer who headed the police department in Houston, and shares ancestry with hundreds of thousands Cubans in Miami as a Havana-born refugee. Just to do his job as a chief.” In an eight-page memo sent by Acevedo to the city manager and mayor before those meetings, Acevedo stated that Carollo and the other commissioners were interfering with internal affairs investigations, and improperly ordering police resources to be deployed against certain establishments “based on nothing more than the whims of commissioners.” He also accused the commissioners of hampering his reform mandate by eliminating positions. Carollo and the other two Cuban American commissioners said they were deeply offended when reports emerged last month that Acevedo talked to officers about a “Cuban mafia” that runs the city. Carollo, the most vocal politician opposing Acevedo’s leadership, scrutinized an older photo where the police chief was seen using a “white power” hand gesture similar to the OK hand sign, saying a Miami officer was relieved of duty by Acevedo after being accused of using the same gesture.