Houston Police Chief Resigns Amid Investigation into Uninvestigated Sexual Assault Cases

The article discusses the replacement of Houston Police Chief Troy Finner due to the ongoing investigation into why hundreds of thousands of cases, including over 4,000 sexual assault allegations, were never investigated in the past eight years. The discovery of an email from 2018 regarding a code used to dismiss these cases without further investigation was the final straw for Mayor John Whitmire, who accepted Finner’s retirement as the department needed to move forward under new leadership. Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite has been appointed as acting chief, and Whitmire has launched a review by an independent panel into the matter. The article also highlights the staffing crisis facing police departments nationwide, with smaller and medium-sized agencies reporting more officers than in early 2020, while larger agencies have seen a slight increase in staffing since 2020 but still lag behind pre-pandemic levels. The Houston Area Women’s Center, which supports victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, declined to comment on Finner’s retirement but previously stated that survivors pay a high price when investigations aren’t clearly resolved.