Houston Police Department remains disorganized and without answers as their biggest scandal unfolds

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It's the biggest scandal the Houston Police Department has faced in years.

More than 261,000 incident reports were set aside since 2016 as part of a now widely condemned policy that was started by someone the mayor and police chief still won't identify.

READ RELATED: HPD code on suspended incident reports 'should have never been used,' Chief Troy Finner says

It's a massive number, 10% of all cases filed over the past eight years, and there are still a lot of questions about how the department got here and what happens now.

Houston Police officers want to show you that they are working to reach victims.

They invited Eyewitness News and other media to watch as officers reviewed reports and reached out to victims.

Both the police chief and mayor stood united, flanked by sex assault survivor advocates, as they slammed the now-canceled policy.

"The way they handled it was about as bad as you can handle something," Mayor John Whitmire said. "To come up with a code to say you're not going to invest the resources because you're understaffed, give me a break. If that person was still in the department, he or she would have a different experience."

It's been nearly a month since the police chief first announced the problem, and Houstonians still don't know who first approved the policy back in 2016 and how it lasted from then until just weeks ago.

"Some dumb individual said, 'Well, we can't get to them, so let's just say we don't have the staffing.' Wrong," Whitmire said.

Art Acevado, who was police chief in 2016, has told ABC13 he didn't know about the policy.

Multiple investigations are currently ongoing, and HPD officials have provided varying numbers and changing statistics. The department is showing disorganization as officers review reports.

Additionally, there are still no answers on how or why it all happened.

"I'm not going to drip-drip information. It doesn't help anyone," Chief Finner said.

Chief Finner said about 130 investigators have reviewed more than 3000 reports and visited 752 homes since he first announced the problem.

"I want to remind people, I'm the one who went to the mayor and said, 'You know what? This code was used in the wrong way.' I want to open up everything," Chief Finner said.

So far, two assistant chiefs have been demoted.

Governor Greg Abbott has called for further consequences.

"There's a time for politics. That's at the election and during the campaign season. Now, it's a time to serve and work and protect Houstonians. A lot of political rhetoric does not get us where we want to go," Whitmire said. "They're going to have billions surplus next session. Send us a few million for HPD."

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