Retired NYPD Chief of Detectives weighs in on Astroworld Festival investigation
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- On Wednesday, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner provided an update on the Astroworld tragedy for the first time since Saturday.
People across the country have their eyes on this investigation and are wanting to know more about how this happened.
We turned to ABC News contributor and retired NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce to ask if it is reasonable for people to expect to know more from HPD at this point, less than a week after it happened.
"Yes, it is," Boyce said. "Usually, you would get, that day, you would get several updates throughout the day and the next day. After that, you would get a daily brief."
Boyce went on to explain that engaging the public can also help with the investigation.
"I would suggest that they do at least a daily (brief) to get more information," Boyce said. "You want to engage the public. You want them to help you with your investigation, but you also want to tell the public what's going on, what are we doing about it. It shows true leadership, and that has to be done, I would say, on a daily basis."
During the briefing on Wednesday, Chief Finner also walked back his initial report that a security guard was injected with drugs during the chaos. Boyce says preliminary information does often change, but framing it as such and dispelling it as soon as you find out it's not true is key.
"Misinformation comes out too, and the quicker you dispel it, the quicker you say, 'This is who we spoke to, this did not happen, this is not part of our investigation.' The faster it's off your shelf, and you can go on to other business," said Boyce.
Chief Finner said the investigation into the tragedy that left nine dead and many others injured could take weeks, possibly months.
"I would say yes definitely to weeks, but in that time, to keep the public plugged into it each day, and then maybe you go every two days, or whatever the case may be, and you slowly slow that down a little bit, because we really don't know a lot right now, and we should know more," said Boyce.
