Report Into HPD’s Shelved Cases Released by Houston Police Department

Acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite did not mince his words as he warned Houston City Council on Wednesday that without more staff, the Houston Police Department will remain unable to investigate all the cases brought to the agency.

“That’s something I don’t want to tell you — and certainly not in this position — but that is honesty,” Satterwhite said. “We simply cannot investigate all crimes. Not until we get more people. We desperately need more people.”

Satterwhite stressed the need to prioritize recruiting while presenting the key findings of a widely anticipated report that unveiled more information about the use of a “suspended-lack of personnel” code used by the Houston Police Department.

News of the code’s use across the department broke in February when former Houston Police Chief Troy Finner announced that it had caused more than 264,000 incident reports to be shelved without further investigation.

Satterwhite detailed the origin of the code, tying its creation to the administration under former interim police chief Martha Montalvo — who led the department in 2016 briefly before former Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo took over.

According to Satterwhite, the first major failing was the need for more guidelines attached to the code. Those using it would focus on cases they determined to have solvability. Hundreds of thousands of incident reports with workable leads that could’ve led to arrests — he admitted — were neglected as a result.

“Once they were suspended, they were never revisited,” he said.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire interrupted Satterwhite to question the content of these cases. Satterwhite confirmed of the more than 264,000 suspended cases, many involved serious sexual assaults and at least two were murders. He added that the number of murders could increase as further review continues.

Whitmire contended that some of the “worst of the worst” cases went backlogged for years.

Satterwhite detailed the case that spurred the deep dive into the code. Officers responded to a call involving a robbery and sexual assault and found that the suspect involved in that incident was linked to a prior sexual assault. However, the first sexual assault, in which the complainant had named the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle, had been suspended.

The department found that over 4,000 sexual assault cases had been shelved using the code. Those with the agency also discovered that 264,371 cases had gone uninvestigated across all divisions.

“The scope of this and the magnitude of it was truly not known until February,” Satterwhite said. “That’s a failure of leadership. At the executive level, we should have asked more questions and we could have done more.”

Satterwhite said investigators with the Special Victims Division had been told to stop using the code in specific cases several years ago. In 2017, investigators with the division had found that 1,600 child sexual assault cases had been suspended.

Then-Commander of the Special Victims Division David Angelo requested that the department hire more investigators for the division and ordered that the code never be applied to a child sexual assault case. However, Satterwhite noted, it continued to be used in adult sexual assault cases.

Houston City Council member Martha Castex-Tatum challenged why the department could avoid using it for incidents involving children but couldn’t extend it to reports from adults. Satterwhite said it was another “miss” by the agency.

According to Satterwhite, Finner also gave all departments another directive about not using the code in 2021. Officers continued to use it, and the code remained in the department’s record management system as it could not be removed without the software crashing.

Houston City Council member Amy Peck asked if those who applied the code to cases after Finner’s directive faced disciplinary action. Satterwhite said they were not held accountable because they technically operated within department policy.

The code was used for roughly eight years. Of the 264,371 cases, 176,221 have been reviewed, and 81,079 have had a final disposition entered. Satterwhite noted that the department pulled officers who patrol and have other duties off the streets to continue chipping away at the cases it has left to investigate.

“I’m still shocked that this could exist for so many years and not become public,” Whitmire said. “You aren’t going to fix something until it comes public.”

Several reports have indicated that Finner knew prior to 2021, as an email mentioning the code was sent to staff in 2018 with the former police chief copied on it. However, Finner maintained that he did not know about it then.

On Wednesday, Satterwhite said it was “very fair” to say Finner was not being dishonest when saying he did not recall the email discussing the code’s use.

Whitmire announced the report would be finalized and presented to the public hours after the Houston Chronicle published comments by the former police chief.

Finner expressed concerns that the department’s report may not reach a conclusion that would be available to the public. Before Finner’s retirement, he had released routine updates about its progress. When Satterwhite took over, these halted.

Whitmire responded to Finner in a statement, saying he was “personally disappointed” that Finner felt motivated to make these “allegations.” Whitmire wrote that Finner’s comments did not deserve a response insisting the facts didn’t support them.

Whitmire had repeatedly delayed the report’s release since Finner’s retirement. Finner stepped down abruptly shortly after news broke of the code’s use.

Read the full report here: