AURORA, Colo. — The departing Aurora interim police chief has changed his mind about taking a job offer with the City of Austin – citing "politics and power struggles" as his reason.
Art Acevedo, whose last day with Aurora Police was Monday, announced he was leaving his position with Aurora Police to be with his family. He said it was a difficult decision for him to make.
He was set to be paid $271,000 a year to supervise the Austin Police Department (APD) and serve as a liaison between the police department and the city manager’s office.
The position was created for Acevedo by the Interim City Manager Jesús Garza who said he created the position and hired Acevedo for the job to help lead the department through staffing challenges and continued reform in the aftermath of community demands following the May 2020 protests, among other issues.
>Video above originally aired on Jan. 16: Acevedo steps down, new Aurora PD interim chief takes oath
When he announced he was leaving Aurora for Austin last week he praised his time with the department.
“I am grateful for the unwavering dedication of the exceptional men and women of the Aurora Police Department. Serving as chief of police alongside the current leadership team has been an honor," he said. "Together, we have achieved significant progress in this remarkable, diverse and welcoming community. I carry with me immense pride in the positive impact we have had. Aurora will forever remain a part of me.”
Acevedo was named the interim chief on Dec. 5, 2022, after a failed national search to find a permanent chief in the fall of that year. Two of the three named finalists withdrew their names from consideration.
Current Interim Deputy Chief Heather Morris was appointed as APD’s interim chief Monday. City officials said they will discuss the next steps for identifying a new permanent police chief in the coming weeks but no other details were shared.
With APD's fourth leader in two years, those in the community are feeling frustrated with the chief position still not being filled with someone permanent.
"So we thought we would have someone permanent by now, we just continue to play this game out here in Aurora, musical police chiefs," said Jason McBride, founder and youth violence prevention specialist at McBride Impact.
McBride is also a former member of Aurora's Community Police Task Force, a task force he said was disbanded multiple interim chiefs ago.
"They really never took our input and you know, we were doing it for two years. And they never really used anything or any of our suggestions to select the chief," McBride said.
Now, McBride said he and other members want to see that task force put back in place as Aurora starts its search for a chief yet again.
Following the announcement of Acevedo's resignation, Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor said, that while Morris will be interim chief, they haven't made any permanent hiring choices yet.
"We're going to take some time, going to take a few weeks to figure out what's next. We don't have that answer right now," Batchelor said.
McBride says until they do, all the community can do is wait and hope that Aurora and APD finds the right fit for the job — finally.
"We're just going to see where it goes from here, that's all we can do," McBride said. "We would love to be a part of the process, I think the community deserves that, too."
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