CNN Hires Recently-Fired Police Chief Art Acevedo

Atlanta, GA – CNN announced that the recently-fired Miami police chief, former Houston and Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, has been hired by the network as a law enforcement and criminal justice expert.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer made the announcement on the air on Tuesday night, welcoming Acevedo to the scandal-plagued network as a law enforcement analyst, WPLG reported.

“Joining us now, our new CNN Law Enforcement analyst Art Acevedo, the former police chief of Austin, Houston and Miami,” Blitzer said. “Chief Acevedo welcome to CNN.”

Acevedo told the Houston Chronicle that he started his career in journalism as a columnist on his high school and college newspapers.

“I have joined the media,” he joked.

Excited to join @CNN team to continue being part of the discussion on law enforcement and criminal justice. #RelationalPolicing pic.twitter.com/BNsnRSDepF

— Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) December 15, 2021

“Excited to join @CNN team to continue being part of the discussion on law enforcement and criminal justice,” Acevedo captioned a screenshot of himself with Blitzer during an earlier appearance in a Dec. 14 tweet.

The announcement that Acevedo had joined the news network came on the heels of the arrest of a senior CNN news producer John Griffin last week on charges he lured parents and their children to his Vermont ski home for “sex training.”

Griffin most recently produced for CNN senior political analyst John Avlon, but earlier in his career, Griffin was the producer of CNN’s “New Day” when the recently-disgraced Chris Cuomo was the host.

Cuomo was fired by CNN a week before Griffin was arrested following a suspension earlier in the week for his role in aiding his brother in a sexual harassment scandal.

Acevedo made a number of appearances on CNN and other major networks during his time as police chief of Houston and then Miami.

Art Acevedo, fmr. Austin police chief, says bipartisanship is needed to help reduce the homicide rate in US cities. "Both sides need to come to the middle on gun policy and on violent criminals and bail policy. Or else, we are not going to see this get better anytime soon." pic.twitter.com/0znhM5H5fh

— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) December 15, 2021

He was fired by a unanimous vote of Miami city commissioners in October after less than six months on the job.

During his short stint in Miami, Acevedo battled with city commissioners and accused City Hall of interfering in police work.

Commissioners were enraged when, after his staffing decisions were questioned, the new police chief said, “it’s like the Cuban Mafia runs Miami PD,” KTRK reported.

Then-Chief Acevedo said the comment was a joke that referred to a lack of diversity within the police department wasn’t meant to be offensive to anyone.

He said he was making a point about the importance of diversity and wasn’t aware the reference was a derogatory nickname for the Cuban exile community in Miami.

Acevedo briefly flirted with a run for Los Angeles County sheriff after he was fired in Miami but said he ultimately decided to stay out of policing so that he could be a part of the “national conversation” on law enforcement reform, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Critics have said that Acevedo has no credibility to critique others in law enforcement as he has his own checkered career to explain.

The former police chief was at the helm of the Houston PD during a number of controversial fatal incidents and some of the resulting criminal cases against his former officers are ongoing.

“Scandals, including allegations of revenge porn and cops who fabricated evidence, have followed Acevedo at his last 4 posts, sooo naturally CNN taps him to be their new ‘law enforcement analyst,’” the Texas Observer’s Michael Barajas tweeted on Dec. 15.

Acevedo has also been criticized for making multiple appearances on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ “InfoWars,” the Houston Chronicle reported.

The Miami Herald ran an editorial following the CNN announcement that labeled “the rise and fall of Acevedo as one of the most baffling Miami stories of the year.”