Mayor John Whitmire has appointed J. Noe Diaz as the new chief of the Houston Police Department.
The announcement comes just days after KPRC 2 Investigates Mario Diaz reported that J. Noe Diaz appeared to be a target for the position and that the mayor might be close to naming a new police chief.
Former Police Chief Troy Finner announced his retirement in May amid an ongoing internal investigation into more than 264,000 incident reports, including more than 4,000 sexual assault reports, being suspended due to a “lack of personnel.”
Finner, who has been the chief of HPD for more than three years, said last week during an interview with the Houston Chronicle, that he felt he was “pushed out” of the department. Whitmire denied those claims and said Finner “chose to retire and he knows why he chose to retire.”
“Unfortunately, he chose to retire, and he knows why he chose to retire,” Whitmire said during an exclusive interview with KPRC 2 Investigates reporter Mario Diaz. “I’m not going to get into a public debate with Troy Finner. I don’t think it’s appropriate. What he came out and alleged, he knows is wrong, and we’ll get our report the HPD final review, hopefully next week, then the independent group that I appointed will give their review completion about a week later, so we’re on target.”
Executive Asst. Chief Larry Satterwhite, who was appointed as acting chief, will be replaced by J. Noe Diaz, a former Texas Ranger and most recently, the city of Katy’s chief of police.
Before becoming Katy’s top cop, Diaz worked with the Texas Department of Public Safety.