June 2024. Blues Vol 40 No.6

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK Mayor needed to blame someone! In my opinion, the handwriting was on the wall the minute Whitmire won the Houston mayoral election – Troy Finner would be out as Houston’s police chief sooner or later. I even said so much in another editorial months ago. Every new mayor thinks he needs to clean house with department heads to “do a better job.” It’s no secret that Houston’s crime problems haven’t gotten any better. They are short some 2000 officers and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Combined with punk ass DA’s and judges that let crooks out of jail on low or no bonds, they just go out and commit even more crimes. It’s an endless revolving door. Finner was fighting a losing battle from the day Acevedo left. But I’ll tell you this. Finner was a sincere man who truly cared about this city. Every time a family lost a loved one, Finner would sit down and comfort them and promise he’d do everything in his power to bring them justice. A near impossible task, but Finner was all about taking on the impossible. Hell, I don’t even know when the man slept. He was in front of the cameras nearly 24/7 addressing yet another shooting, another killing or some horrific accident that claimed yet another innocent life. But I believe he was one of the best chiefs Houston ever had. Unlike his predecessor Acevedo, he wasn’t all about himself and trying to win over every group in town by pretending to believe in their causes. HPD has had its share of internal problems over the years. And I’m not discounting the whole coding issue and lack of investigation into crimes. But the truth is, if you’re short 2000 officers something isn’t going to get done. There just aren’t enough resources to investigate EVERY SINGLE incident. But once the local news got involved it was a witch-hunt to find the smoking gun and who knew what when. Does it really matter when Finner knew about it. He said the minute he found out about the coding, he said “stop using it.” Of course, we now know that didn’t happen. Finner demoted and fired people he thought failed to follow his orders. But the news media wanted the story to end with Finner gone. The mayor felt the pressure and walla, Finner decides it’s time to go. I’ve heard the acting Chief Larry Satterwhite is also a good man, a good cop and will be a good replacement for Finner. Only time will tell if he can do what Finner couldn’t. Find a couple thousand cops that want to work in Houston and put an end to this revolving door of justice. As far as Finner, I’m sure he’ll land on his feet somewhere. He is a fine individual and a great cop who served his department and his community faithfully for over 34 years. I am proud to call him a friend and wish him and his family the absolute very best. 6 The Blues - June ‘24

The Blues - June ‘24 7