If it were up to Houston City Council member Letitia Plummer, Houston’s next police chief would have all the attributes people say they want in their leaders—impartiality, relatability, responsibility, and accountability.
The at-large council member recently stated that her “dream” HPD chief is “someone that is data-driven, someone that understands the importance of community relationships, and making sure that they can take responsibility, lead and have a lot of transparency.”
“What I want to look at is his leadership over the city of Houston while he’s been in place. … What I want to ensure is that these repeat offenders are handled properly and that the victims have some level of closure at this time. And I’m very grateful that we’re at a position to where this will never happen again.”
letitia plummer
Last week, Mayor John Whitmire announced the retirement of Troy Finner as HPD’s head.
Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite became acting HPD chief as of 10:31 p.m. on May 7 after Finner retired from the position, according to an email sent to city employees that same evening by Whitmire. But, according to one local activist, the plan to “retire” Finner was in the works well before last November’s mayoral election – though there is no proof to verify that allegation.
On the subject of proof, that’s exactly what Plummer wants HPD’s next chief to rely on when making decisions that will impact the city’s level of safety and citizens’ trust in HPD – proof as found in verifiable, data to drive HPD initiatives.
Plummer also said she wants a police chief with good community relationships. It is unclear if she was suggesting Finner lacked good relations or if the next chief needs to follow’s Finner lead in that department.
According to some community residents, community relations was one of Finner’s strong points.
“I’ve been to multiple community meetings with Chief Finner in attendance, and he seemed genuine,” said Maddie Harris, a resident of South Park. “But it was during just random community events where city bigwigs weren’t scheduled to be on anybody’s program, yet Finner was there choppin’ it up, as my son would say, with the people.”
Plummer’s call for more transparency from the chief’s office seems to be a subtle callback to the controversy that many believe was Finner’s undoing – the personal code / case suspension controversy. Or she may have been referring to the recently concluded HPD investigation into that controversy that’s findings have yet to be publicly released.
Finner did, however, release a statement saying it was an honor to serve for 34 years on the force, and that “the last few months were perhaps the most challenging, but most rewarding.”
“It was painful because some victims of violent crime did not receive the quality and care of service they deserved,” he said.
The announcement of Finner’s retirement came amid an investigation into thousands of cases suspended by an internal code that allowed them to be shelved due to a lack of personnel. During a recent media briefing, Whitmire said Finner chose to retire and that though he accepted it, it wasn’t easy for the mayor to do.
Plummer acknowledged the obvious when speaking about the impact of the HPD code controversy.
“I knew this had brought a dark cloud over HPD and just the ways in which, unfortunately, the cases were not handled,” she said. “… The leader takes responsibility of something that doesn’t happen under their leadership. And so it wasn’t too surprising that it came to fruition.”
Looking forward, Plummer reiterated she wants to see the new HPD chief be a take-charge individual focused on keeping Houstonians safe.
“What I want to look at is his leadership over the city of Houston while he’s been in place,” she said. “… What I want to ensure is that these repeat offenders are handled properly and that the victims have some level of closure at this time. And I’m very grateful that we’re at a position to where this will never happen again.”
