The scandal embroiling the Houston Police Department (HPD) and its recently resigned Chief Troy Finner has taken another twist with Mayor John Whitmire pointing to lost focus amid an embarrassing saga of suspended criminal cases. Whitmire cited a distraction from core policing duties as the fallout from the uncovering of some 264,000 cases marked "suspended—lack of personnel" continues to rock the city's law enforcement, as reported by The Houston Chronicle.
Exposed late Tuesday was an email dating back to 2018, wherein Finner—the city's top cop until his abrupt departure—called a suspended road rage case due to lack of staff "unacceptable." These revelations run against his previous claims of being in the dark until 2021 about the practice of shelving cases, according to a KHOU report referenced by Chron.com. The HPD's investigative distractions, as Whitmire noted, was resulting in the policing body's drifted attention from "hotspots and response times."
Despite a storied tenure, Finner's legacy is undoubtedly clouded by the scandal, yet various city council members rallied to his defense. Council Member Edward Pollard lauded Finner's "outstanding leadership" while Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz rhetorically pondered the recall of old emails in his defense, as detailed by Chron.com. Council Member Letitia Plummer, meanwhile, pointed the finger at former police chief Art Acevedo, seeking his accountability in the fiasco.
Whitmire announced the conclusion of Finner’s term and vowed to refocus the department on crime-fighting duties. He has installed Larry Satterwhite as acting chief, expressing confidence in the veteran officer's ability to steer HPD back on course and lift its morale, per The Houston Chronicle. The mayor hopes to scrub the department's image from negative headlines and underline the importance of continuity and dedicated public service during this period of transition.
Meanwhile, accolades for Finner poured in from other law enforcement figures. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the former chief will "surely be missed," and Mark Herman of the county's Constable Precinct 4 paid tribute to Finner's frontline leadership and dedication to fighting crime, as told to Chron.com. The full spectrum of responses and existing tensions signify a challenging road ahead for HPD as it seeks to rebuild trust and effectiveness in the wake of this scandalous chapter.
