Gone at HPD
Folks should not be surprised about what transpired last night at the Houston Police Department. Once we learned about the unresolved cases earlier this year, it was just a matter of time. Commentary has briefly met the former HPD Chief a couple of times. See the featured photo from New Year’s Eve night. He is a nice guy, but at some point, one must be held accountable. See this from the Chron today:
Troy Finner has stepped down as chief of the Houston Police Department, Mayor John Whitmire announced in a late-night, four-paragraph email to city employees Tuesday.
“I have accepted the retirement of Troy Finner as Chief of Police, and have appointed Larry Satterwhite acting Chief of Police effective 10:31 p.m. tonight,” Whitmire wrote. “This decision comes with full confidence in acting Chief Satterwhite’s abilities to lead and uphold the high standards of the department.”
Finner’s sudden retirement comes amid the monthslong internal police investigation into the department’s use of a internal code — “SL” — to mark criminal cases and incident reports as suspended due to a lack of personnel.
Finner announced the investigation into the internal code in February and has delivered periodic updates on the investigation and reviews of the suspended cases as it progressed. Last week, Finner announced that the internal investigation had concluded, but the police department had yet to release any information on its findings.
Similarly, an independent investigative group organized by Whitmire to conduct its own review of the police department has yet to make any disclosures about its findings.
On Tuesday, multiple Houston TV stations reported a new development in the scandal: an email written by Finner in 2018 referring to the suspended case issue. Finner had previously said that he first became aware of the code in 2021.
In a statement posted by the department on X at 6:02 p.m., Finner said he didn’t remember sending the older email and appeared to dismiss its significance.
Here is the entire Chron read: Houston Police Chief Troy Finner retires, Whitmire says (houstonchronicle.com).
Former H-Town Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted this afterwards:
Before you can remove someone who has done an excellent job and liked, you must seek to discredit that person’s work and leadership. Those who serve especially in elected positions and leaders who advocate for the greater good of our community need to find their voices. St
I am not a big fan of cryptic messages. I don’t know what he is trying to say with this tweet. If you have something on your mind, just say it, please. Oh, well.
The former mayor also tweeted the following this morning:
Chief Troy Finner gave 34 plus years of his life to HPD. For the last 3 plus years he led the largest police force in the Southwest through some challenging and divisive times and under his direct leadership crime has trended down. His departure is a loss to HPD and our City. St
Got it. With a ton of cases removed from the books, I guess crime can trend down. I don’t know.
Back to the featured photo. It was taken at the workout gym for City of H-Town employees located in the basement of City Hall on Bagby Street. I didn’t know they had a gym. Now you know.
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At Donald Trump’s trial yesterday, we learned a lot. Trump doesn’t wear protection. He wears silk or satin PJs and wears boxer shorts. He told Stormy Daniels that she reminded him of his daughter Ivanka. Trump and his wife Melania have separate bedrooms. Stormy still has the phone number on her cell of Keith, Trump’s bodyguard at the time. Stormy hates Trump and wants him to go to jail.
Oh yeah, Trump uses Pert Plus, a shampoo and conditioner all in one, like Commentary uses.
I was watching the coverage yesterday, and right when Stormy was fixing to get into the bedroom details, the coverage was broken into to cover President Joe Biden’s speech on anti-Semitism. Talk about a moral comparison.
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Last night, in the Indiana GOP primary, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won 22% of the vote against Trump. Somewhat stormy results, I guess.
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We got trounced by the Yankees last night. We are 0-5 against the Yankees this season. We are a lousy team. Nobody saw this coming.
