Acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite says his top priority is fighting crime

HOUSTON – “I would like to promise you that everything will be better now, I will try to improve it, and then we will see.”

Acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite assumed the role of his good friend Tuesday night around 10:30 p.m., with a sense of honor and loss.

“It’s tough. It’s tough. Troy is a friend,” Satterwhite said during his first news conference as head of the department.

He and former Chief Troy Finner attended the academy together 34 years ago and remained friends.

“He did everything he could, I think, to help,” Satterwhite said, acknowledging Finner’s time as chief.

“I’ve known him for 34 years and I think it’s killing him.”

Finner abruptly retired Tuesday night after KPRC 2 investigators reported that an email they obtained showed the chief may have been aware of coding used to suspend cases as early as 2018.

Mayor John Whitmire said Wednesday morning that it “made me sick” to accept Finner’s retirement, but also acknowledged that the investigation had become too much of a distraction and was disrupting the morale and work of the department.

CHANGE OF FOCUS

Satterwhite, who was promoted to executive chief by Finner in 2021, said all his years on the city’s SWAT team, working with Homeland Security and, more recently, leading field operations — all these positions were outward or outward oriented. With the looming investigation and moral challenges, he must now turn his attention further inward.

“A big part of my role or responsibility was responding to your requests when you called for help. When you, when we have a problem in the community or on our roads with any kind of road rage or anything like that,” Satterwhite said. Over the past three years, he has overseen more than half the department with more than 3,000 officers under his command. This included divisions such as airports, traffic control and the ministry’s mental health division.

“I am honored to be in this role at this time, regardless of how it came about, because I am very proud of the men and women I work with every day. . …and it is all of you, the public, who support us.” Satterwhite said he has traveled the world and brags everywhere he goes “because the support we have here in the community is second to none.”

HPD’s mission to protect the public has not changed, Satterwhite said, adding that Houston police’s number one priority should be fighting crime. Morale suffered during the investigation, he said.

“So it’s a challenge. We have fantastic men and women who do their best to answer calls and conduct investigations. And a lot of good work is being done. But for me to sit here and tell you it didn’t impact their morale, to say it didn’t impact their efforts because no one likes it. And everyone, you know, we all take pride in our work. And it’s difficult.

Satterwhite did not outline his plans to boost morale, but said he, like Finner, would like to add 2,000 more officers to the force and was aware that could take time. “I don’t want to sound greedy, but I’d take more if I could get them.”

INVESTIGATION INTO 264,000 SUSPENDED CRIMINAL CASES

Satterwhite was asked at the news conference what he knew about the coding of suspended cases, when he became aware of it and whether he alerted Finner.

He repeatedly said he didn’t remember exactly, but thought it was either the end of last year or the beginning of this year.

“I remember something about it, but I related it to a specific conversation about cases that were put on hold due to lack of staff, that’s what we’re talking about. I have a hard time going there and remembering all of that, so I don’t really have a good answer for you,” Satterwhite said. He said he was not really aware of the investigations and had not conducted one himself since the 1990s because most of his career had been on the operational side.

Satterwhite said he’s still learning a lot about the investigation and that 264,000 cases is a “huge” amount to process and at the same time the department has to balance what’s happening in Houston’s communities.

“And we have a lot of bad actors doing bad things and we need to bring them to justice as well. So we have to do both. So it’s huge,” he said.

Satterwhite said he hopes to update the public soon on the status of the investigation, but he couldn’t say when.

“As an agency and a ministry, we have failed on this,” he said.

KPRC 2 Investigates reporter Mario Diaz asked Satterwhite what he would do if he found out someone on his staff knew about the coding used over the past several years.

” Well it depends. There’s so much more to say in terms of, you know, how exactly was this presented? I mean, I try to be fair to everyone. So to tell you exactly if I discover this, boom, that’s the problem. I can’t tell you at the moment. I have to look at everything objectively and make sure that I give everyone the same rights and the same consideration that I would give, you know, to everyone who participated in my command and my operations in the field.