The Houston police internal investigation into around 264,000 investigations suspended using a forbidden lack of personnel code has been completed, Chief Troy Finner announced Tuesday on X.
Finner said the investigation will now be reviewed by the Independent Police Oversight Board and the Administration Disciplinary Committee. He said he will present the findings to the public in the next two weeks, after the review, and release documents to media as allowed by law.
On Feb. 22, Finner announced the department launched an internal investigation into more than 4,000 reported sexual assaults suspended using the code, but that number grew to more than 264,000 cases across multiple police divisions dating back to 2016.
As of Tuesday, the department had reviewed all 4,017 sexual assault incident reports suspended using the code and found around 3,500 should have been closed, cleared, inactivated or suspended for another reason. Investigators have scheduled forensic interviews with 427 people and conducted 1,765 location checks.
RELATED:
- Over 250K Cases Dropped by Houston police over Lack of Staffing
- Houston Police Chief Assigns over 100 More Officers to Suspended Cases
- Houston Mayor: Suspended Police Reports are 'Our Highest Priority'
Officers have reviewed a total of around 107,000 incident reports out of the total 254,000 and found around half of them, or 49,900, fit the criteria to be closed for another reason, officials said. Most had no leads.
Prosecutors have filed 54 charges on 45 people in connection with the ongoing review, officials said. Most of those, 33, were for misdemeanors, while 21 were charged with aggravated assault.
The oversight board is a group of volunteer members tasked with reviewing internal police investigations involving possible officer misconduct, according to the city's website. The mayor appoints the members and the city council confirms them. Some have criticized the board, saying it lacks teeth to properly oversee the police department.
The board consists of 23 members, divided into four panels of five members each. The board chair and each panel chair then sit on an administration disciplinary committee responsible for reviewing investigations with sustained allegations and helping to make a discipline recommendation to Finner.
___
(c)2024 the Houston Chronicle
Visit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
