Retirement of Houston Police Chief Troy Finner: Mayor Whitmire explains

HOUSTON — Houston Mayor John Whitmire spoke Wednesday morning about Troy Finner’s retirement as Houston police chief.

Whitmire said he felt sick when he saw the email report that showed current Chief Finner learned of the controversial “understaffing” code earlier than expected. It was an email first reported by KHOU 11’s Jeremy Rogalski less than 12 hours before Finner’s retirement announcement.

Whitmire said the problem was distracting the Houston Police Department’s attention from fighting crime and was the final straw.

“I am confident that this was in the best interest of Houston, the department and Chief Finner,” Whitmire said.

The mayor also said he had been in constant contact with Finner over the past few days, but the email showing Finner knew about the suspended personnel code earlier than expected led to a conversation during which Finner submitted his retirement letter.

RELATED: Who is Larry Satterwhite, man replacing Houston police chief amid Troy Finner’s sudden retirement

At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, the mayor and other council members praised Finner’s work over the past 34 years and many expressed disappointment in the outcome. Whitmire later held a news conference, saying that ultimately the decision was made to get the department back to focusing on fighting crime.

“Here’s the bottom line,” Whitmire said. “Chief Finner spent so much time dealing with the press, the department. He didn’t have conversations with the employee groups. It was affecting HPD operations. That’s the bottom line. I I was concerned about it because it was a distraction from the mission of the men and women of HPD.

Whitmire says it’s too early to reveal a timetable for putting a permanent leader in place. He says right now the transition is going smoothly, with interim Chief Larry Satterwhite taking over the department.

Satterwhite spoke with KHOU 11’s Jason Miles on Wednesday after assuming top responsibilities.

You can watch Whitmire’s full press conference here:

Before the press conference, Whitmire addressed the retirement issue at the Houston City Council:

KHOU 11’s Len Cannon spoke with Chief Finner Wednesday morning. Finner told him he wasn’t ready to comment.

Finner had served as Houston’s police chief since being appointed to the position in March 2021 by then-Mayor Sylvester Turner. He was named chief to replace outgoing Chief Art Acevedo, who had accepted the position of chief of the Miami Police Department.

Before becoming chief, Finner, a 34-year veteran of the department, was an executive assistant with HPD.

News of his retirement comes less than 12 hours after KHOU 11’s Jeremy Rogalski broke the story in an email referencing the “suspended – understaffed” code in 2018, showing FINner was aware of the controversial code more than three years before publishing it publicly. claims.

Read Whitmire’s full email below:

“I have accepted the retirement of Troy Finner as Chief of Police and have named Larry Satterwhite Acting Chief of Police effective 10:31 p.m. this evening (May 8).

“The decision comes with full confidence in Acting Chief Satterwhite’s abilities to lead and uphold the high standards of our department.

“I ask everyone to provide their full cooperation and support to Acting Chief Satterwhite during this transition period.

“Thank you for what you do every day on behalf of Houstonians. Thank you for standing up.

The first public comments on the suspended cases were made in a statement tweeted on February 16, which said that Finner “had learned that a significant number of adult sexual assault cases had been suspended due to ‘lack of staff”, which is unacceptable… this should never have happened and will not continue. »

Then, at a press conference on February 22, Finner announced that up to 4,017 sex crime cases had been stayed and said he first learned of the code in 2021. And on the 26 February, he tweeted that they discovered another 260,000 cases had been suspended with the code.

And during a press conference on March 7, he reiterated that “November 2021 was the first time I was informed of the use of this code during a briefing by the Special Victims Division. At that point I told them the code was unacceptable and I would never use it again.

Since then, Finner announced that all sex crime cases have been reviewed and about 100 of them have DNA results. HPD reviewed more than a third of the other 260,000 cases last week. Most had no leads and 54 charges were filed.

This is a revolutionary story. Stay with KHOU 11 for updates as we receive them.

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