HOUSTON – Shortly after a city council meeting on Wednesday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire answered some questions regarding the ongoing investigation into the Houston Police Department suspension of thousands of cases over the past eight years.
Since learning of the suspended sexual assault cases on Feb. 16, KPRC 2 Investigative Reporter Mario Diaz has worked tirelessly to get Houstonians answers on who exactly dropped the ball and how it was allowed to go on for so long.
On March 6, Whitmire announced that he was appointing an independent panel to review the Houston Police Department’s handling of suspended cases.
“I trust and believe Police Chief Troy Finner is doing the best he can to manage the internal investigation, get to the bottom of it, and hold people accountable,” said Mayor Whitmire. “The independent panel will be people I also trust to review and validate the outcome and help bring closure to the victims.”
Shortly after, he released the names of the members who would make up the committee and their official duties.
During the news briefing Wednesday, KPRC 2 questioned Whitmire about the committee’s timeline and if they would be able to interview HPD Chief Troy Finner, who has been at the center of the scandal since alerting the public about the suspended cases on social media in February.
“The challenge is to do it right, accurate, correct... and that’ll be the guideline. Obviously, my panel will keep me briefed and I will decide if I need to say it’s not being done as quickly and accurately as it should. So, you know, this is delicate, it needs to be thorough and hold people accountable and prevent it from ever happening again,” Whitmire said.
On Wednesday, before the city council meeting, Whitmire provided the council members with paperwork outlining the tasks of the committee he appointed. One of the eight tasks listed said the members would be responsible for conducting interviews of personnel related to the incidents. Mario questioned Whitmire, asking if Finner, who claimed to have known about the suspended cases since 2021, would be one of the people interviewed by the committee.
“I would expect them to talk to Chief Finner. They (the committee) are going to be looking over their (HPD) shoulder every step of the way. They will report back to me,” Whitmire said. “They also may want to talk to other chiefs, you know there’s four chiefs that have been with the Houston Police Department since the code was established.”
Not letting up, Mario continued to press Whitmire about Finner and his knowledge of the cases in 2021 but waited to take action until now in 2024.
“He wasn’t told about it, he discovered it in an unrelated discussion with his command staff and was shocked like all of us and told them to stop using it,” Whitmire answered. “That’s a part of his investigation, what came of his general orders to stop the use of the SL code. Now we’re learning today that if they take it off their data, the computer system may crash.”
Since the start of the investigation, Whitmire’s and Finners, the Houston Police Union said two assistant chiefs have been demoted. Mario pinned the question to Whitmire about accountability, asking if all of the leaders, including the assistant chiefs, would be interviewed by the committee.
“We don’t have a law that’s going to make them do it. They’re all good public servants. I think they would like to help us understand the history,” Whitmire said.
Several organizations are now calling for Chief Finner to step down from his lead position amid the ongoing investigations.
SEE MORE:
TIMELINE: Houston Police Department’s mishandling of sexual assault cases
Houston Police Department’s crime stats don’t match federal numbers