Controversy surrounds Houston Police Department and chief resigns

The Houston Police Department has been embroiled in a scandal over the department’s use of an internal code, which it incorrectly used to indicate cases were dropped due to understaffing. The code/phrase “suspended: understaffed” or “SL” was used to reject incident reports. This error led to the loss or resignation of four executives, including the last police chief, Troy Finner, who resigned on May 7.

According to the investigation, more than 250,000 cases appear to have been suspended due to lack of staff at HPD headquarters.

As the Houston Chronicle reports, although Finner said in 2021 that he had asked staff to stop using the code, at that point it had become so ingrained into the fabric of the department that it had the opposite effect. HPD spokesperson Kese Smith told the the Chronicle Shortly before Finner resigned, even though the code was no longer in use, the chief wanted the department to do more. “Chief Finner said there will be drastic changes to the culture and operations of the department to move beyond this and he remains committed to investigating every violent crime,” Smith told the outlet.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Finner share a close relationship, which Whitmire alluded to in a statement regarding his acceptance of Finner’s retirement amid an investigation. It was revealed that Finner had responded to an email containing the phrase “shortage of suspended staff” in 2018, which contradicted his previous statements regarding issuing the instruction in 2021. This prompted him to have a conversation with Whitmire, following which, he said. made the choice to retire alone.

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I think that can definitely be an honest statement,” Whitmire said of the 2018 emails. “I was sick when I saw the recent email, but I don’t have time to be sick . I have to protect this city and lead it, and it can’t be personality driven. Chief Finner is a friend and it was very painful to see someone retire in the middle of their mission.

Whitmire continued: “This had become… disruptive to the department. I have spoken to numerous officers at all levels of the department; it had become the priority of much of the HPD staff. Part of the consideration is that the ongoing investigation and suspended cases had become such a distraction that I was convinced the department had lost some of its focus on hot spots and response time.

Although Whitmire appears to hope that Finner’s retirement will distract from the investigation, questions remain from those who were affected by the department’s controversial policy of abandoning investigations than it seemed not wanting to approach. As NBC News According to a report, Hai Bui, founder of an activist group, We the People Organize, was relieved about Finner’s retirement, but also expressed a desire for the police department to clarify how it will spend a grant of $6 million from the Department of Justice.

“I was relieved. The buck stops with him. We are very happy that the chief did the right thing. Bui continued, “The community deserves to know clearly how every dollar was spent and how much agents have been hired, particularly in areas essential to public safety.

Besides Bui, Sonia Corrales, deputy executive director of the Houston Area Women’s Center, a center designed to help people involved in sexual assault and domestic violence cases, wants to make sure survivors of sexual violence ignored by the department don’t are not supported. no longer ignored.

“Now, more than ever, we need to make sure we stand up for survivors, making sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” said Corrales, who also said NBC News that some sexual assault survivors whose investigations had been abandoned by the department due to staff shortages cited in their internal documents, had been linked to his organization.

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