Houston Mayor John Whitmire said today that he believes crime data for the city has been manipulated for nearly the past decade, but he vowed to get to the bottom of whoever is responsible. He also vows to fix the issue.
The mayor’s statements echoed findings in a KPRC2 Investigates report from a week ago.
While he wouldn’t go into detail, some of our research shows significant discrepancies with major crimes like rape and homicide.
During a press conference, Mayor Whitmire announced who will be on the newly created independent review committee in charge of collecting data.
He did not mince words about finding inaccurate reporting of crimes affecting thousands of potential victims in the city over the last eight years.
“First, I want to apologize to those victims,” Whitmire said. “The City of Houston let them down, under four police chiefs, an administration serving eight years. This wrongful coding of incidents and suspensions because of lack of staffing was a terrible mistake.”
While Whitmire’s exact findings are unclear, KPRC2 investigates reporter Mario Diaz revealed last week that he found the Houston Police Department’s crime stats did not match those of the National Incident Based Reporting system, which is maintained by the FBI.
For example, regarding rape and sexual assault cases from 2022, NIBRS shows 1,140 while HPD reported 1,264. That’s 124 more than the federal numbers indicate.
At the same time, regarding aggravated assault cases in 2022, NIBRS shows 17,459, and HPD shows 15,030. That’s 2,429 less cases than federal numbers indicate.
“I think the credibility of previous statements by the City of Houston about ‘[how] crime was going in the right direction,’ It’s been revealed that that was a spin,” Whitmire said. “The credibility of the data collected by HPD and released to the public for at least the last eight years is flawed,” Whitmire said.
We reached out to the last mayor, Sylvester Turner, who told us he had no interest in speaking on the issue. We also reached out to HPD, and a spokesperson said they’re not in position to respond right now. Then, we contacted the Houston Police Officers Union, where two representatives said they would comment but weren’t available today.
Former HPD Chief Art Acevedo did get back to us with this statement:
“I’ve been asked to comment on the use of the case management code, ‘SL, suspended - lack of personnel’ by investigative units at the Houston Police Department to suspend or close criminal investigations. To be clear, the use of this code was not authorized by me nor was I apprised of its use.”
While acknowledging the longstanding issue of understaffing within HPD, along with the challenges posed by outdated record management and analytical technology, it was my expectation that comprehensive investigations be conducted and completed whenever evidence and leads were present.”
Meanwhile, Whitmire vows to investigate, review and fix what he called a terribly broken component in our local criminal justice system.
“It’s affecting victims, it’s affecting the morale of officers, it’s affecting holding people accountable for their acts,” Whitmire said.
After the press conference, we reached back out to the mayor’s office to ask who he believes could be responsible for the issue. A spokesperson working for this administration—and the last one—told me is finding that answer is part of their investigation.
