Mayor John Whitmire announces retirement of Houston Police Chief Troy Finner amid suspended cases scandal

HOUSTON – Houston Police Chief Troy Finner is stepping down as head of the department.

In an email sent by Houston Mayor John Whitmire to members of the department, Whitmire announced that he had accepted Finner’s retirement.

Whitmire named Larry Satterwhite as interim chief.

Finner, a Houston native, had been HPD chief for a little more than three years.

The news comes after the ministry said 264,000 incident reports, including more than 4,000 reports of sexual assault, had been suspended due to “lack of staffing.” These reports date back to 2016.

Finner said he was aware of the cases being suspended in 2021 and demanded they stop being used.

However, an internal document obtained by KPRC 2 Investigates shows that Chief Finner was aware of the code used by HPD in cases dating back to 2018.

“It’s something I didn’t know about and I certainly didn’t remember it,” Finner told KPRC 2 investigator Mario Diaz when he showed the chief the email over lunch Tuesday .

In the email dated July 20, 2018, Finner said, “this is unacceptable, look into it and follow up with me.” »

It was his response to the email sent by George Mixon, Art Acevedo’s former chief of staff, to the command staff, which included Acevado, Finner and Commander Kevin Deese.

KPRC 2 Investigator Mario Diaz brought the documented 2018 email to Chief Finner over lunch. Finner repeatedly told him, “The email is out of context. »

“Now, if I go back and look at all your emails over a period of 10 years or whatever the period is, do you think you would leave anything out? Do you think you’re going to leave anything out? Do you think there is an intention? There is lying and intention. Has anyone tried to perceive or distort anything? No.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, the chief released a lengthy statement on social media about the 2018 email:

An investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs Division is nearing completion.

During the review of this investigation, further questions were raised about the integrity of a member of Finner’s entourage who formally requested the launch of an investigation into the use of coding ” suspended – understaffed” which essentially dismissed the cases rather than pursuing them. with surveys.

Mayor Whitmire’s independent committee is expected to review the Internal Affairs investigation and make recommendations based on the findings.

Chief Finner had promised to inform Houston residents of the results, but it is not yet clear if that will happen.

This story is developing. KPRC 2 Investigations will have more starting Wednesday morning.