Who is Larry Satterwhite? Learn more about Houston’s new interim police chief

HOUSTON – Many Houstonians woke up Wednesday morning to the shocking news that Chief Troy Finner has resigned from the Houston Police Department.

In a surprising turn of events Tuesday night, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced he was accepting Finner’s retirement and appointing Executive Deputy Chief Larry Satterwhite as interim chief.

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

Prior to that, Satterwhite served as executive deputy chief of patrol operations, according to a recent command summary report posted on the city of Houston website. Satterwhite is described there as “responsible for directing, organizing, directing, coordinating, developing and implementing management strategies that promote efficient and effective solutions to critical problems of service, crime, disorder and road mobility. »

The docket also states that Satterwhite is “also called upon to serve as a liaison to city officials when assigned by the Chief of Police.” Him, with two other executive assistants. Chiefs Ban Tien and Chandra Hatcher are also named in the report to intervene if necessary by the police chief.

RELATED: HPD internal affairs investigation into suspended cases not ‘finished’ after Chief Finner tells Houstonians it’s over

Finner, a Houston native, had been HPD chief for a little more than three years and had a large presence in the city.

However, in recent months, the department and its top cop have faced scrutiny over more than 264,000 incident reports, including more than 4,000 reports of sexual assault, which have been suspended due to a “lack of personnel”.

Over lunch Tuesday, hours before the surprise announcement, KPRC 2 investigator Mario Diaz spoke with then-Chief Finner about an internal document obtained that shows reports of The incident was first brought to his attention in 2018, when at a press conference in February. , Finner said he first learned the code was being used in 2021 – about 3 years earlier and demanded it stop being used.