Former Police Chief Troy Finner felt the love from hundreds of Houstonians who recently gathered to celebrate his 34 years of service to the Houston Police Department. It was a celebratory evening and Who’s Who of Houston were in attendance. While Finner didn’t go into details, he did speak about a scandal surrounding his exit.
Finner, who served from 2021-2024 addressed the scandal involving the Houston Police Department’s (HPD) dropped cases during the retirement event at the George R. Brown Convention Center. More than a hundred individuals gathered to hear Finner expressed his desire for clarity and transparency about the matters that prematurely ended his tenure.
“I want to make sure that the whole story is told in this because the citizens deserve it. The victims and the citizens deserve it,” Finner said.
Speaking at the event hosted by Council Members Edward Pollard, Tiffany Thomas, and Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, Finner declined to get involved in decision-making on the suspended cases but remained hopeful for the department’s candidness moving forward.
Sudden retirement
Finner abruptly retired in early May from the Houston Police Department in a late-night resignation given to Mayor John Whitmire amid an ongoing probe into how the department has suspended thousands of criminal investigations. At issue was an internal department computer code that police used in 264,000 cases to suspend investigations due to a lack of personnel. The crimes included roughly 4,000 sexual assault cases.
Whitmire said Finner’s decision to retire ultimately was the chief’s, but it was made in “dialogue” with the mayor. The email indicated that Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite would assume the role of acting chief, sparked by a scandal involving a substantial number of dropped cases since 2016 due to “lack of personnel.”
At the retirement event, former Mayor Sylvester Turner celebrated Finner’s consensus support when he was chosen to lead HPD in 2021. Turner applauded Finner for his leadership during the harrowing times of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social upheavals that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
Prominent civic leaders, including Houston city council members and city leaders, former police Chief Art Acevedo, and NAACP President Bishop James Dixon, stood by Finner’s contribution to the city.
“Tonight, he’s our chief,” said Council Member Evans-Shabazz
