By 2014, HPD’s planning office talked about creating the Suspended-Lack of Personnel code for violent crimes, too. The situation kept escalating and going downhill.
The chief at that time said he wasn’t a part of the discussion about the SL code. He said he would not have approved it.
The chief at that time said he wasn’t looped in on discussions about this “SL” code, and said he would not have approved it, stressing that every serious crime should be assigned to a detective for at least some follow-up. HPD brass wasn’t required to sign off when the code was added to the department’s computer system in 2016. No one was put in charge of ensuring the code was used consistently by investigators. Experienced leaders in the department who could have been put in charge of the implementation left HPD that year when a push for pension reform created mass retirements of the command staff.
The new system with the SL code was not set up to succeed from the beginning. It was doomed to failure because the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.
A large portion of the cases were mislabeled. Tens of thousands of investigations were improperly dropped. Finner said those cases included some “egregious” crimes.
Finner became police chief in 2021 after a 34-year career with HPD.
The backlog of processing rape kits and forensic testing in assault cases is particularly disturbing. “In dozens of cases, forensic testing shows suspects who were allowed to walk free may have later struck again.”
Houston residents deserve much better.
In November 2021, Finner said he ordered his command staff to stop using the SL code. The day after that, the crisis of the Astroworld tragedy happened. The system remained in place.
So, what is next? Mayor Whitmire appointed Larry Satterwhite, formerly the executive assistant chief, as acting police chief while he begins the search for Finner’s replacement. Whitmire said, “It’s real premature to talk about the process of selection. I’m not ruling out an internal or external chief. I want someone that is a crime fighter that realizes and appreciates the diversity of our city and just wants to fix things.”
That would be good. I’m not sure what “appreciates diversity” has to do with investigating criminal cases, but let’s hope he makes a solid decision soon. Whitmire ran on law and order. He’s been in office since January. He has his work cut out for him.