Troy Finner: ‘Thank you HPD and my Houston community’

HOUSTON – Troy Finner, who spent his first day off the job as Houston’s Police Chief, sent a thank you post to the city and the department Wednesday night.

Finner posted on X:

“It was the highest honor to serve as your Chief for three years in this great department and city. Whatever the future holds for me, I will continue to serve others”

He said every day, even the most challenging ones have been rewarding. Those challenges were exceptional in Finner’s last few days.

• Community leaders, organizations react to former HPD Chief Troy Finner’s retirement

The Houston Police Department’s suspended cases scandal hit a point of no return for Finner over the past week when two important revelations came to light after he’d announced to the city his Internal Affairs Investigation into the 264,000 suspended criminal cases was complete.

During a review of the investigation, questions of integrity surfaced about one of Finner’s inner circle, Executive Assistant Chief (EAC) Chandra Hatcher. KPRC 2 Investigates reporter Mario Diaz broke that story five days ago. Hatcher is the person who officially asked for an Internal Affairs Division investigation into the use of the “SL” code used on all the “suspended - lack of personnel’ cases. Hatcher based her request on details she said she’d learned in a meeting, which records show she never attended.

• Houston Police Chief Troy Finner resigns amid suspended-cases scandal

Then the day of Finner’s abrupt retirement, KPRC 2 Investigates reported on another internal document showing Finner could have known about the suspended case code being used as far back as 2018, when he’d maintained all along he first learned in 2021 of the coding and mandated that the use of it be stopped.

Mayor John Whitmire said Wednesday although it made him sick to accept Finner’s retirement, those two discoveries had become a distraction that was disruptive to the department.

“Thirty-four years ago, I decided to become a Houston police officer and serve my city,” Finner said tonight in his thank you post. “It has been one of the best choices I’ve made in my life.”

His friend and colleague, Larry Satterwhite, who went through the academy with Finner 34 years ago, has been tapped by Whitmire for the role of Houston’s Interim Police Chief. Satterwhite said in his first news conference Wednesday that while he was honored to be in the position, it’s also tough to see what Finner is going through.

“I think this is killing him,” Satterwhite said, adding “I will take care of Chief in every way possible.”