Independent panel investigating HPD scandal involving suspended cases meets for 1st time
The committee was given directives from the mayor, including conducting interviews and reviewing individual incident reports.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The independent review panel tasked with looking into the Houston Police Department's handling of the more than 260,000 suspended cases met for the first time on Wednesday.
This comes as concerns have been raised about the panel, with the Houston Police Officers' Union calling for HPD Chief Finner to recuse himself from the investigation due to an "inherent conflict of interest."
READ MORE: Police officers' union asking Chief Finner to recuse himself from HPD suspended cases investigation
Attorney Randall Kallinen and other community activists met at city hall on Tuesday to express they don't feel the panel that Mayor John Whitmire put together is representative of the community. The five-person panel is made up of a former council member, city attorney, inspector general, Texas Ranger, and pastor. Kallinen said the members are too closely connected to HPD and worries they might be biased.
The police union thinks the investigation should be sent to an outside source like the attorney general, so that HPD can focus on the work with the suspended cases and giving the public no chance to second guess the investigation.
READ MORE: Texas Ranger on independent panel reviewing HPD puts impartiality into question, expert says
"There is nothing even remote about this group being independent. We need a true independent organization and a group," Houston Police Officers' Union President Doug Griffith said.
The panel was introduced during city council Wednesday morning before they began their private meeting.
Whitmire laid out a directive for the committee, which included the following:
- Plan a comprehensive review of the HPD policies and practices that contributed to the suspension of thousands of incident reports;
- Analyze all relevant HPD data and processes to identify trends and patterns in suspended incident reports;
- Review individual incident reports and potential corresponding casefiles, as necessary, to determine where law enforcement decisions and actions were deficient;
- Conduct interviews, as necessary, to determine the timeline of suspended cases;
- Communicate regularly to the Office of the Mayor and the public, on the progress of its review;
- Convene on a regular basis to ensure its review of HPD policies and practices is satisfactorily progressing;
- Issue a final report setting forth the Committee's factual findings and recommendations, including immediate and long-term actions will ensure every incident report that is received by HPD is properly reviewed, investigated, and properly addressed;
- At the conclusion of the review, hold a public meeting as to the Committee's findings and recommendations.
When asked if there's an objective timeline for when this review could be concluded, Whitmire said it would be "wrong to give a time restraint."
"I have confidence in each and every one of them," he said, referring to the commitee. "They all have responsible positions beyond this. I'm gonna leave it to their judgement when they think it's complete - a lot of it is influenced by the completeness of the HPD review."
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