Art Acevedo, a nationally recognized law enforcement expert who has more than 35 years of law enforcement experience and who served as police chief in Austin, Texas, Houston and most recently Miami, will lead the Aurora Police Department on an interim basis. Aurora will reset the national recruitment process for a permanent chief. Current Interim Police Chief Daniel J. Oates will return to his home and family in Florida upon Acevedo’s arrival and a successful transition in early December.
Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo
“Chief Acevedo has been a fixture in the national law enforcement community for years and has been vocal about needed and measured improvements in policing and public safety across the country. We are honored that he reached out to us, eager to assist us with the ongoing public safety changes we have been implementing,” said Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly.
“I am extremely grateful for Interim Chief Oates. We wish he could stay but knew his time with us would be brief. He came out of retirement and returned to Aurora this summer,” explained Twombly.
“Aurora reminds me of Houston. Both cities are incomparably diverse and culturally rich,” Acevedo said. “As a bilingual Cuban American born in Cuba and raised in the U.S., I am intimately familiar with the challenges facing diverse communities like Aurora.”
Acevedo grew up in California and earned his Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, in Public Administration from the University of La Verne in California. He previously spent 21 years with the California Highway Patrol (CHP), including two years as chief of one of the agency’s eight divisions. He has served as president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and is a lifetime member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.