April 2024. Blues Vol 40 No. 4

AROUND THE COUNTRY

AROUND THE COUNTRY HOUSTON, TX. The Houston Police Department is not only short 2,000 officers, but they have more than 260,000 open cases that have been suspended due to that shortage. Chief Finner and the Mayor have launched a full-scale investigation. 50 The Blues - April ‘24 HOUSTON, TX. – What began with a tweet has resulted in a Houston Police Department scandal now entering its second month. In the past eight years, HPD has suspended more than 260,000 cases coding them with “Suspended - Lack of Personnel.” HPD Chief says his department is reviewing those cases and is focusing their attention on contacting the victims in nearly 4,000 alleged sexual assault cases. HPD Chief Troy Finner informed Houstonians last month, that sexual assault investigations along with thousands of other cases, had been “suspended” due to a lack of personnel to investigate them. Some time back, before Finner was appointed Chief, a code was created to temporary suspend cases due to personnel shortages plaguing the department. Finner says he first learned of the cases and the code back in 2022 and thought the practice had ended. Apparently not. Since the investigation was launched, two Assistant Chiefs have been demoted and now law enforcement sources tell say multiple HPD Commanders are being asked questions about the over 4,000 sexual assault investigations that were suspended. In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Finner said this is unacceptable. I am addressing this matter and I have assigned a team of investigators to review those cases coded “Suspended - Lack of Personnel.” Furthermore, I am permanently assigning additional investigators to the Special Victims Division to prevent this from recurring,” Finner said. Finner said despite staffing challenges, this should have never happened and said it will not continue. “All victims and their families are important to

me and deserve to be treated as such,” Finner said. In the meantime, Ray Hunt, Director of the HPOU, expressed concerns Monday with Finner handing down disciplinary actions in an investigation the chief is at the center of, “Remember, the chief of police determines the final discipline on a case, is that fair if the chief is a part of the investigation that that person also makes the determination? That’s a question as to whether or not this mayor wants to dig into and say, ‘Do I think it’s fair to my officers, do I think it’s fair to my members to be investigated and the final discipline be issued by someone who also is being questioned on this case?’” said Hunt. On Tuesday, March 19th, The Houston Police Officers Union sent a letter to Mayor John Whitmire on Monday, requesting that Chief Finner be recused from the investigation and outcomes of the department’s suspended cases scandal. The letter comes after Mayor Whitmire last week officially launched an investigation into sexual assault and other criminal investigations that had been “suspended” dating back to 2021. It also comes weeks after KPRC 2 Investigates first posed the question as to how IAD can properly investigate Chief Finner if the chief can direct IAD the way he wants to? Since the investigation was launched, two Assistant Chiefs have been demoted. (See letter, following pages) get your FREE SUBSCRIPTION to The BLUES, scan the QR code or click here. The Blues - April ‘24 51