Larry Satterwhite, former interim police Chief says the Houston Police department is working towards reaching out to thousands of sexual assault victims whose cases were suspended by bad policy.
Over 260000 cases including 4000 rapes were suspended due to lack of staff since 2016 when this policy began. Special Victims and Homicide divisions used “SL” code on cases that had been suspended because they lacked personnel. After a 2022 rape case, it became clear that this had not been done when evidence matched a new crime.
Troy Finner, who was Chief of Houstonian Police has retired after the investigation that exposed the flaws in this policy and did not address anything at all about it.
New Chief J. Noe Diaz is set to start work on August 14 as officers have assigned a special team to prioritize these 4017 cases of sexual assault and also set up a hotline for any questions about them in addition to reviewing other open investigations; however, this has made other criminals go hidden more than they would have if people paid these their time properly. Yet there have been no disciplinary actions against those who made use of the “SL” code.