The Houston Police Department is continuing to grapple with the ramifications of a scandal involving over a quarter-million suspended cases, leading to yet another shuffle within its highest ranks. Assistant Chief Milton Wyatt Martin, the individual who oversaw the department's Professional Standards Command, including the Internal Affairs Division, has been reassigned, as confirmed by multiple sources to KPRC 2 Investigates. This shift comes on the heels of a recent complaint alleging retaliation within the department, and Martin is now the second key figure in the wake of this week's personnel changes.
Martin's involvement in crafting a report concerning the 264,000 suspended cases, which had been attributed to a shortfall in personnel, and his subsequent removal from the position casts a pall over the department's internal operations wherein not only he but Commander Donna Crawford were implicated in a new complaint by an active commander for retaliating against another who had pointed to former HPD Chief Troy Finner's earlier awareness of the issue, a timeline discrepancy that Finner himself seemed to dodge by choosing retirement according to KPRC 2.
Further in the internal affairs narrative, Acting Chief Larry Satterwhite addressed concerns about the involvement of Martin and Crawford in the report's creation but reaffirmed the report's accuracy, "We didn't want to say anything inappropriate; we didn't want to put a spotlight on anybody inappropriately or anything like that," Satterwhite told KPRC 2. In a shifting of roles, Martin was swapped with Assistant Chief Jessica Anderson, who is now in charge of the Professional Standards Command, leaving Martin to oversee Support Services.
The restructuring also impacted Officer Chandra Hatcher, previously an Executive Assistant Chief, Hatcher was removed from her position following a questionable letter she sent which falsely claimed her attendance at a 2021 meeting – an incident extending the delay of the already contentious report "31 years of service, hard work, mistakes were made," said Satterwhite, detailing the tough reality of the high-ranking positions in the department and Hatcher's subsequent sidelining from the executive team as reported by Houston Chronicle Cmdr. Crawford's fate remains undetermined as yet, with the department not confirming her reassignment at the time of reporting.
