A ‘target list’ of commissioners’ enemies is part of questionable acts
Guess Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo is not going to go down easily.
Three days before a special commission meeting Monday to discuss his very future with the city, the new chief sent the mayor and city manager a detailed 8-page memo accusing the Three Amigos — Commissioners Joe Carollo, Alex Diaz de la Portilla and Manolo Reyes — of misconduct for, principally, interfering in police department business including the internal affairs investigation of sergeant at arms Luis Camacho, who was on the mayor’s security detail when photos of his vacation were leaked.
But the memo also says that Carollo has tried to use the police and code enforcement departments against his enemies — providing proof of what we’ve known about Crazy Joe forever, which is that he uses the city to retaliate politically (Pssst, Chief, Crazy Joe also uses the city attorney’s office as his own personal law firm).
“In fact, Carollo and Diaz de la Portilla provided the MPD with a target list of establishments which they claim are engaged in criminal activity and have pointed the finger at establishments in each other’s districts, causing the MPD to investigate business establishments based on nothing,” Acevedo wrote, adding that the city “has wasted untold hours investigating business establishments because of the improper political influence of, and intimidation by, these two commissioners.”
How much can we bet that Ball and Chain is on that list?
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“After five months of observing these two commissioners, and the negative impact they are having on MPD and our business community, coupled with their unlawful obstruction of the IAD investigation involving Camacho, I feel compelled to memorialize and report their unlawful and retaliatory conduct,” Acevedo wrote.
He said that during a private meeting in Diaz de la Portilla’s office, the commissioner promised to help him get elected as Miami-Dade sheriff in 2024.
“I told him I am not interested in running for office and he replied that ‘You are the most experienced and qualified candidate and would easily win. I run campaigns and will get you in.’ He then added, ‘that’s assuming you do the right thing on Camacho and get him back.'”
But that’s not the only case in which the Miami electeds have abused their powers, Acevedo wrote.
They unfunded a position for his deputy chief, an officer he brought with him from Houston, in order to hamper his reform efforts, Acevedo said.
“It is important to note that the Commissioners chose not to eliminate the newly created position of Assistant Chief (currently occupied by Assistant Chief Carroll). Instead, Commissioners Carollo, Diaz de la Portilla, and Reyes led the charge to eliminate the long standing position of Deputy Chief as part of their efforts to interfere with the MPD’s affairs including the IAD investigation, hamper my given mission to reform the MPD, and retaliate for refusing to succumb to their collective efforts to influence the outcome of the ongoing IAD investigation and operations,” Acevedo wrote.
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Is this just an attempt to pre-empt his ouster? When Carollo called for the special meeting Monday he made it very clear that he didn’t like the chief and thought someone else could do a better job.
“Commissioner Carollo is targeting me, in part, for my refusal to allow him to use the MPD as his personal enforcer against anyone he perceives as offensive. My refusal to allow Commissioner Carollo to dictate the actions of members of the MPD has led him to engage in a pattern of retaliation and threats,” the chief said.
He brought up a Calle Ocho event in June and another event at Bayfront Park in July to mark the Patria y Vida movement in Cuba where the commissioner wanted him to arrest what he called “agitators” who were doing nothing illegally.
“Carollo told me to ‘arrest those communists and get them the hell out of here,'” Acevedo wrote. The chief had officers watch the area Carollo signaled, but no arrests were made because nothing illegal happened.
“Carollo was incensed that MPD did not immediately make arrests as he directed,” Acevedo wrote. “In fact, Commissioner Carollo has publicly accused me of being too busy taking selfies with the crowd and spending time in crowds in retaliation for my refusal to arrest and remove his enemies and those who were exercising their First Amendment rights.”
It is true that Carollo has been on an anti-Acevedo rampage, going on radio and TV to question the chief’s actions and motives, attacking him publicly at every commission meeting and the first budget hearing. Acevedo says it is a clear attempt to harm his reputation with the community and “intimidate, harass and retaliate against me for not carrying out his unlawful requests.”
Many of us who have been observing Miami politics — and applauded the recall effort against Carollo — know about the way he abuses his position to punish political opponents or perceived enemies. Ball and Chain, which was the location of a fundraiser for his 2017 election opponent — has been closed for more than a year because of Carollo’s vendetta.
Acevedo came out of the blue. Mayor Francis Suarez announced he had courted and pried him away from the Houston Police Department in March. The chief started in April and immediately began making waves, firing top officers and finding a ton of use of force incidents that might have gotten a pass in the past police administration. The union is also fighting him.
Many have criticized Acevedo for being out of touch with the Miami culture. But maybe that’s exactly what the 305 needed. Maybe it took someone from outside to see what is going on right in front of law enforcement’s eyes here.
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“In a career spanning over 35 years, including in three of the most populous states in the Union and leading three of the largest law enforcement agencies in the United States, I have never personally experienced such interference in a confidential law enforcement investigation,” the chief wrote in the memo, where he added that he had already talked to the U.S. Department of Justice and intends to reach out to the FBI.
“These events are deeply troubling and sad,” he wrote. “I have been told on numerous occasions that, if I just give these commissioners what they want on the IAD investigation, they may very well leave me alone for now. However, my sworn duty is to uphold the rule of law and follow the evidence wherever it may lead, and to work for the wellbeing of the men and women of the MPD, the lawful independence of MPD, and the people of the City of Miami.”
Then he compared Castro to the oppressive regime in Cuba.
“If I or MPD give in to the improper actions described herein, as a Cuban immigrant, I and my family might as well have remained in communist Cuba, because Miami and MPD would be no better than the repressive regime and the police state we left behind. It is for these reasons, and more, that I will be providing this information to the proper authorities.”
But Ladra doesn’t want to get her hopes up. After all, these “proper authorities” have been around all along. They know what’s happening here.
Still, let’s hope agents tune in to the meeting that begins at 9 a.m. Monday. It should be good. Unless it’s cancelled for lack of a quorum because, on the advice of their attorneys, three commissioners decide not to go.
Miami Police Chief Art Acev… by Political Cortadito
Chief Art Acevedo fights back, reports misconduct by Miami city electeds added by Ladra on
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