HOUSTON – Less than 24 hours after Mayor John Whitmire announced Chief Troy Finner stepped down as chief of police for the Houston Police Department, he admitted it was a tough decision to accept.
After City Council, Mayor Whitmire held a press conference where he was quick to remind everyone how close he and Finner were, even before his administration. And though he admits he was reluctant to accept Finner’s decision to retire late Tuesday night, he accepted it.
“I’m very confident it was the best decision for Houstonians, for the department, and for Chief Finner,” Whitmire said.
Whitmire also refuted claims that he forced Finner to step down, but did acknowledge “the Hatcher Letter,” which was first reported by KPRC 2 Investigates.
“It was my desire to wrap up the investigation when it was done properly,” Whitmire said. “It was re-opened Friday afternoon after the revealing of the Hatcher Letter.”
The letter he referred to involves Executive Assistant Chief (EAC) Chandra Hatcher sending Chief Finner a letter on February 22, 2024, requesting an investigation be launched into the suspended cases to “determine if department personnel violated directives related to this issue.” The letter was significant because of her direct responsibility is to oversee “Support Operations” within the department. In the letter, Hatcher makes the case for launching an investigation based on information she learned in the 2021 meeting she attended. However, from documents KPRC 2 obtained and discussed with several sources, it appears Hatcher was never at that meeting.
Wednesday afternoon KPRC 2 Investigates confirmed Hatcher is on active duty during the IAD investigation focusing on her letter.
Finner’s decision to retire still appeared to come as a shock for the Mayor, who voiced how upsetting it was to accept his retirement.
“Me and Troy were good friends,” Whitmire said. “It made me sick when I saw his email.”
Regardless, Mayor Whitmire believes Executive Asst. Chief Larry Satterwhite, who was appointed late Tuesday night as acting chief, is more than equipped for the job.
“The department’s morale, I believe, will improve when we get HPD off of the front page and out of the news and back to crime fighting,” he said. “Chief Satterwhite has made a hotspot in scenes of violence. He understands the operations department as well as anyone, so, I think we need to support Chief Satterwhite. I thank Chief Finner for his public service, and wish him well.”
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Finner, a Houston native, had been Chief of HPD for a little more than three years and with HPD for more than 30, has had a wide presence in the city. However, in the last few months, the department and its top cop have been facing scrutiny over 264,000 incident reports, including more than 4,000 sexual assault reports, were suspended due to a “lack of personnel.”
During a luncheon on Tuesday, hours before the surprise announcement, KPRC 2 Investigates Mario Diaz spoke with then-Chief Finner about an internal document obtained that shows the incident reports were first brought to his attention back in 2018, Whereas, during a February press conference, Finner said he first learned of the code being used in 2021 - about three years earlier and mandated that it stop being used.