Art Acevedo

Art Acevedo was the Austin Chief of Police from 2007-2016. From there, he went on to be the Chief of Police in Houston, where he presided over the department during Hurricane Harvey, where he was roundly credited with being instrumental in helping keep the hurricane from becoming a greater disaster, thanks to his philosophy of leading from the front, and not hiding behind a desk when the going gets tough.

Why Is Art On InfoWars?

It seems interesting that Art Acevedo would appear on Alex Jones’ show, considering that everything about his track record suggests that he is absolutely not in line with Alex’s politics at all. He supports sanctuary cities, he’s pro-LGBT rights, he is pro-union, he opposes the NRA on gun issues; it just doesn’t match up that he would be a guest on this show.

As it turns out, Acevedo has a philosophy toward transparency that extends to making media appearances. In an interview with the Texas Observer, he said:

“People just don’t trust government, and the most visible cog is the police department. I’ve never understood law enforcement agencies that don’t understand that transparency is a good thing; it breeds trust, cooperation and better results for everybody....I want the community I serve to be familiar with their police chief, to have a relationship that’s one of trust with the police chief...One of the things I’m very proud of, and it’s happened here and used to happen in Austin all the time, when someone in the public I’ve never met before [yells] “Hey, Art!” Damn it, it makes me happy. They feel like they know me — that’s why I use the media.”

He knew that Alex Jones was a local radio guy with a considerable reach, and he appeared on his show as a means of facilitating community outreach. How can you possibly make a bigger statement that you are available to your community as the Police Chief than to show up in studio as the guest of a guy who explicitly distrusts the police and thinks everything is a conspiracy?

Also, there is an Austin-based “free improv no wave/punk” band who named themselves Art Acevedo. No greater tribute than having a free improv no wave/punk outfit name themselves after you.

In Complete Fairness

It should be pointed out that, no matter how reasonable Acevedo seems, he is not above criticism. In June 2018, three victims of sexual assault filed a class action lawsuit against Acevedo and Travis County over allegations that the police department mishandled their cases. The outcome of the filing in unclear at the time of this writing, but the allegations made by these victims all seem very plausible and not something to be discounted.