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Acevedo criticizes CLEAT spokesman

Wednesday, November 23, 2016 by Jo Clifton

On Tuesday, the Austin Monitor reported on comments from Charley Wilkison, executive director of CLEAT, criticizing Mayor Steve Adler and accusing him of attempting to interfere with the due process of Officer Geoffrey Freeman before an arbitration hearing on his firing. Adler responded that he had merely said that Freeman’s killing of unarmed teenager David Joseph, as well as the actions of another officer, were disturbing. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, who recently accepted a job as police chief in Houston, told the Monitor on Tuesday that he disagreed with Wilkison, saying Wilkison is “nothing but a junkyard dog” and that the organization he heads, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, is “slowly but surely becoming irrelevant.” Acevedo said that Wilkison had accused him, Acevedo, of trying to attack the rights of police officers when Acevedo suggested that the law should be changed so that police officers could be investigated during the 12 months following an incident. Currently, the time frame is limited to six months, Acevedo said. The chief said that expanding the time frame would help the good officers, not hurt them. As noted in our original story, Adler denied making any comments that would jeopardize Freeman’s rights during the arbitration hearing. Adler has been subpoenaed to appear at Freeman’s hearing, according to the CLEAT website.

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