Houston mayor defends Chief Troy Finner as case shelving probe continues
HOUSTON - As the outcry continues over a quarter million criminal complaints Houston police secretly failed to investigate, Mayor John Whitmire rose to the defense of embattled Chief Troy Finner Wednesday. Finner has drawn steady fire since admitting he first learned allegations were being shelved en-masse back in 2021.
"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 instructed them to quit using it," said Whitmire.
SUGGESTED: Houston police union urges impartiality in Chief Finner's investigation
We know now at least some of Finner's subordinates did not - a revelation which has generated a crisis of confidence so profound Mayor Whitmire felt compelled to appoint an investigative oversight panel, which includes a Texas Ranger and the former head of the Houston Area Women Center.
Amid criticism that those he recruited lack independence and diversity, Whitmire pushed back.
"I say hold me accountable. You couldn't find a better panel. It's the size because I thought it would be effective. This is not about show biz. It's not about politics. This is about getting to the bottom of a very serious matter," said Whitmire.
The mayor also offered additional perspective, referencing a decade-old public statement by then Houston Police Chief Charles McClleland, who admitted his department declined to pursue approximately 20,000 criminal complaints.
"They are very minor crimes. I don't want to dismiss that, if someone was a victim of crime, but they are. They have low or no solvability factors. That's why they are not worked," said McClelland in 2014.
Whitmire says McClelland's statement is evidence dispensing with complaints without investigation was practiced by HPD under the three chiefs prior to Finner.