Former Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo was sworn in Monday morning as the City of Miami’s 42nd police chief.

He was joined at the ceremony by his wife and son, along with city leaders and law enforcement officials.

“I’m not going to be the Cuban chief. I’m not going to be the Latino chief. I’m not going to be the chief of California or Texas,” Acevedo told the crowd. “I’m going to be the chief of Miami because we are going to represent and serve all people from all nations, from all colors, from all sexual orientations and from all walks of life regardless of social-economic standing, and we’re going to be a police department and we will promote people, we will put people forward, we will select people for positions not based on relationships, but based on merit – I guarantee that.”

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced Acevedo’s appointment last month, calling him one of the best police chiefs in the nation.

As the head of the Houston Police Department, Acevedo led the fourth-largest police department in the country.

During a press conference last month outside Miami City Hall, he told reporters that his first order of business would be building trust with the community.

“We’re living in a time in our nation’s history where the American people are hurting,” Acevedo said. “And there’s a lot of pain in this nation. And unless we take the time to feel that pain, process that pain, acknowledge that pain of communities of color that disproportionately are impacted by bad policing, we will never get beyond the summer of 2020.”

Acevedo said he is not about politics but about service and would advocate on behalf of any good cop, but would not accept mediocrity within the department.

Acevedo, who was born in Cuba, was the first Hispanic person to lead the Houston Police Department.

He succeeds former Police Chief Jorge Colina, who retired in February after being Miami’s chief of police for three years.