HOUSTON – On Wednesday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire will release the names of the people who will make up the Independent Review Committee that will be assessing the Houston Police Department’s handling of thousands of suspended criminal reports.
HPD faced severe criticism following the revelation that about 264,000 criminal reports have been suspended across various HPD divisions over the past eight years due to manpower shortages.
We have been following this developing story for several weeks now. On Monday, Whitmire and HPD Police Chief Troy Finner met with investigators, who are reviewing thousands of reports that were suspended due to the departments “lack of personnel code.”
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Finner previously stated about 4,000 sexual assault reports in the city had not been investigated.
Since then HPD has dedicated more than 100 officers at five different locations in the city to review the incidents.
The chief said officers have reviewed about 3,100 sexual assault reports that were suspended. None of the cases involved children.
The mayor previously stated that they would work to get answers and find accountability.
Today’s announcement will be made at 2 p.m. We will continue to follow this and will be streaming the mayor’s news conference in this article and on KPRC 2+.
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