In a late night email to HPD employees, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced he had accepted the retirement of police chief Troy Finner, effectively immediately.
Obtained by KHOU 11's Jeremy Rogalski and Lupita Villareal, Whitmire's statement confirmed Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite will take over as acting police chief in Finner's stead.
"This decision comes with full confidence in acting chief Satterwhite's abilities to lead and uphold the high standards of our department," Whitmire wrote in the missive, which went out to employees around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
Finner's retirement comes hot on the heels of a Tuesday report published by KHOU concerning the chief's awareness of suspended cases in the department's system. In February the chief published a statement claiming a "significant" number of adult sexual assault cases had been incorrectly marked with a "suspended—lack of personnel" code by the department. The number of suspended criminal cases later ballooned to 264,000 instances dating back to 2016 —4,000 of which involved sexual assaults.
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In public remarks over the last several months, Finner has maintained he first became aware of the department's "lack of personnel" case coding in 2021. In Tuesday's report, however, KHOU published an internal email written by Finner in 2018 in which he responds to a message about a case marked as suspended for lack of personnel.
Dated July 20, 2018, the email features Finner responding to a message sent by then-HPD Chief of Staff George Mixon regarding a road rage investigation marked "suspended—lack of personnel."
"On May 24, 2018, the case was 'Suspended—Lack of Personnel' by Senior Officer Danh Nguyen even though there is a full license plate and suspect description provided within the report, to include a statement by the witness that they can ID the suspect," Mixon wrote in the message addressed to then- Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and copied to HPD leadership.
Finner replied to the email, asking then-Vehicular Crimes Division Commander Kevin Deese to look into the matter.
"Kevin, this is unacceptable, look into it and follow up with me," Finner wrote.
Finner, 57, entered Houston law enforcement in 1990 and took over as chief of police for the outgoing Art Acevedo in 2021. The department continues to face scrutiny for its handling of suspended cases. In March Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced the creation of an independent committee charged with assessing the department's "handling and resolution of suspended incidents dating back to 2016."
Thus far, two HPD assistant chiefs—Deese and Ernest Garcia III—have been demoted in connection to the department's suspended case log.
"This is a very serious matter," Whitmire wrote in a March statement on the demotions. "I have instructed Chief Finner to get to the bottom of the investigation and hold people accountable. I am pleased to see that is happening."
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