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FINNER OUT | Mayor Whitmire says he's accepted Troy Finner's retirement as HPD police chief in memo obtained by KHOU 11

In the email sent to HPD employees, Mayor John Whitmire announced he's appointed Larry Satterwhite as acting chief of police effective 10:31 p.m. Tuesday.

HOUSTON — Houston Mayor John Whitmire has accepted the retirement of Troy Finner as police chief, according to an email sent to HPD employees late Tuesday night.

KHOU 11 News obtained a copy of the email sent by Whitmire.

In the email, Whitmire said he's appointed Larry Satterwhite as acting chief of police effective 10:31 p.m. Tuesday.

"This decision comes with full confidence in acting chief Satterwhite's abilities to lead and uphold the high standards of our department," Whitmire said in the email. 

RELATED: Who is Larry Satterwhite, man filling in as Houston police chief amid Troy Finner's sudden retirement

At Wednesday's Houston City Council meeting, Whitmire said he intends to discuss how the retirement took place during a press briefing at a later time.

"I want to thank Chief Finner for his many years of public service," the mayor said at the meeting. "It's my responsibility to provide public safety for all Houstonians and the decision was made." 

Watch Whitmire's full comments at City Council:

KHOU 11's Len Cannon spoke with Chief Finner Wednesday morning. Finner told him he's not ready to comment.

Finner had been chief of Houston police since being appointed to the post in March 2021 by then-Mayor Sylvester Turner. He was tapped as chief to replace outgoing chief Art Acevedo, who had accepted the chief job with the Miami Police Department.

Before becoming chief, Finner, a 34-year veteran of the department, was HPD executive assistant. 

The news comes less than 12 hours after KHOU 11's Jeremy Rogalski broke the story on an email referencing the 'suspended -- lack of personnel' code in 2018, showing FInner knew about the controversial code more than three years earlier than he publicly claimed. 

Read Whitmire's full email below:

“Good evening,

"I have accepted the retirement of Troy Finner as Chief of Police, and have appointed Larry Satterwhite Acting Chief of Police effective 10:31pm tonight [May 8].

"The decision comes with full confidence in Acting Chief Satterwhite’s abilities to lead and uphold the high standards of our department.

"I ask everyone to extend their full cooperation and support to Acting Chief Satterwhite during this transitional period.

"Thank you for what you do on behalf of Houstonians every day. Thank you for standing the watch.

"Be safe,

"Mayor Whitmire”

The first public comments on suspended cases were made in a tweeted statement on Feb. 16, which said Finner “learned a significant number of adult sexual assault cases were suspended due to ‘lack of personnel’ which is unacceptable … this should have never happened and will not continue.”

Then, at a Feb. 22 press conference, Finner announced as many as 4,017 sex crime cases had been suspended and said he first learned about the code in 2021. And on Feb. 26 he tweeted that they found another 260,000 cases were suspended with the code.

And during a March 7 news conference, he reiterated that “November 2021 was the first time I was made aware of this code being used in a briefing by the Special Victims Division. At that time, I told them the code was unacceptable and never use it again.”

Since then, Finner has announced that all the sex crimes cases have been reviewed and about 100 have DNA hits. HPD had reviewed more than a third of the 260,000 other cases as of last week. Most had no leads and 54 charges had been filed.

Background of 'lack of personnel' code


This is a breaking story. Stay with KHOU 11 for updates as we get them.

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