HOUSTON — Since the scandal broke of Houston police suspending cases due to a lack of personnel, Chief Troy Finner has repeatedly pledged transparency in keeping the public informed.
At his initial news conference Feb. 22, he used the buzzword a half dozen times.
“It’s very important that we be transparent, factual,” Finner said.
“I’m not new to this community, people know I’m transparent,” he added.
“Transparency is transparency," he said.
But talking about it is one thing. Doing it is another.
KHOU 11 Investigates filed an open records request, asking for two weeks of Chief Finner’s emails with keywords “suspended” or “personnel” to shed light on what he knew and when he knew it.
In response, HPD sent our request to the Texas Attorney General’s office for an opinion, because “HPD believes responsive information is excepted from public disclosure.”
The department’s open records division said it would file its legal arguments at a later date.
In another request, KHOU 11 Investigates asked for a spreadsheet of all cases “suspended--lack of personnel,” going back to 2016, when Finner said the controversial code was first used. HPD said it does plan to release that information by Thursday afternoon.
The “transparency” catchphrase is apparently conditional on what you ask.
KHOU 11 Investigates requested an interview with Chief Finner. An HPD spokesperson provided the following written statement:
"As part of the ongoing internal investigation, we are still in the process of trying to determine if such documents exist. Any release of documents at this time would be inappropriate until the investigation has been completed."