The committee reported its final findings in a presentation to Houston City Council Aug. 21, including a handful of recommendations for the city and HPD meant to keep a similar situation from happening in the future.
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The report analyzes each division within the police department and provides an account of the management and operational issues that contributed to the "suspended lack-of personnel" code officers have been using for nearly a decade to dismiss cases.
The committee outlined 10 major issues department wide that officials said led to inconsistencies in case management. The leading cause was widespread understaffing, according to the report. Outdated technology and insufficient communication were also listed as key findings.
The report outlined several recommendations to address these issues.
- Increase civilian staff: streamline the hiring process and promote civilian staff to support administrative tasks
- Provide leadership training: offer consistent supervisory and leadership training at all ranks
- Improve crime analysis: ensure each division has a dedicated crime analyst and standardize crime analysis practices
- Foster multiagency collaboration: increase collaborative training with outside agencies
- Standardize case management standard operating procedures: create and maintain comprehensive SOPs for all divisions
"The chiefs have to come before this body and enumerate the backlog, what the shortage of staffing is," he said. "Then it's our responsibility, but the first responsibility is for the chief to reveal the shortages and what it's doing to public safety."
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Former Acting Chief Larry Satterwhite presented the Council with an internal report of the suspended cases in July. Satterwhite focused on how years of understaffing led to the backlog of cases.
Staffing in HPD has been in decline since 2014, he said. Under former police chief Charles McClelland in 2014, there were 6,576 officers in service. As of Aug. 21, there are 6,091 officers in service, or 485 fewer officers than 10 years ago.
A look back
Whitmire appointed a new police chief and announced the hiring of former Texas Ranger Noe Diaz in early August. Diaz, who was absent from the committee's presentation, has experience in investigations and public corruption.
When asked about the suspended cases, Diaz said he was going to let the process work out, but said staffing changes may be a result of the findings.
"We are going to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said. "That may require staffing changes. That may require changes in the way we do our report writing and just granular police work. Staffing is low, but this mayor and city council have indicated that they are ready to commit to higher staffing."
