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For the last three weeks, dozens of Houston Police Department investigators have been calling and visiting the last known addresses of people who reported crimes since 2016 but saw their cases go cold.

The effort followed Houston Police Chief Troy Finner announcing that 264,000 incident reports, including 4,000 sexual assault reports, had been classified as “suspended – lack of personnel.” Finner called the code “unacceptable” and apologized last month to victims whose cases have languished with HPD.

But as controversy surrounding the use of the code continues to boil, with Houston Mayor John Whitmire appointing an independent panel to review the matter, a key question remains.

What’s the true extent of the damage?

Weeks into the uproar, HPD officials have released little information about whether the code reflects officers negligently letting cases go uninvestigated, or if the code is a relatively standard — albeit poorly worded — reflection of the fact that there aren’t enough police to continually investigate millions of cases. 

Here’s what we know and don’t know about the review of suspended cases, which Finner has said will take at least six months.

What does it mean for a case to be suspended?

Law enforcement agencies have a list of codes they use to classify the status of cases. They vary by agency, but oftentimes they include “open,” “cleared by arrest,” “suspended” and “closed.”

Typically, when a case is labeled suspended, that means investigators are no longer working on the case but could reopen the investigation. Law enforcement agencies can be specific or general about labeling a case as suspended.

When do police agencies suspend cases?

Investigators can suspend a case for various reasons. There might not be enough evidence to tie a suspect to a crime. A victim may not want to cooperate with police or testify at a trial.

The exact codes vary by department. Investigators at the Austin Police Department, for instance, can choose from seven classifications that result in a case being suspended. Examples include: 

• “Suspended Prosecutor Declined,” meaning the local district attorney’s office decided there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute.
• “Suspended Pending DNA,” meaning investigators are waiting on DNA evidence testing to come back.
• “Suspended – Closed,” if a supervisor determines that “any further investment of time would be inefficient or unproductive” or 30 days have elapsed and the case hasn’t progressed to the point where it could be solved.

It’s unclear why HPD created a code that suspended a case due to lack of personnel. Jay Coons, a clinical assistant professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University and a former Harris County Sheriff’s Office commander, said he’s never heard of a Texas law enforcement agency using such a code. 

“If I was a chief of police or in a decision-making role, and someone came to me and said, ‘Hey, we need another code and it’s this lack of personnel code,’ I would bounce them out of my office,” Coons said.

Coons said every law enforcement agency sorts crime reports by priority, given the sheer number they receive each year. Compared to a smaller agency with less crime, HPD likely isn’t going to treat property crimes with the same level of importance as they do with violent crimes, he said.

HPD employs nearly 5,200 officers and handles about 250,000 crime-related incidents each year, in addition to working other duties like traffic and neighborhood patrols.

What have HPD officials said to date?

Finner, who became chief in April 2021, has said the code was created in 2016. Agency leaders have opened an internal investigation to determine who created the code and why officers continued to use it after Finner said he directed them not to in November 2021.

Documents from the internal manual for the department’s major assault unit show sergeants may suspend both misdemeanor and felony cases for lack of personnel “if there is insufficient personnel to conduct an investigation at that time.” (The Houston Chronicle first reported the existence of the manual.) 

The manual also notes that a sergeant should occasionally review the suspended cases to determine “when they may be assigned for investigation,” but it’s unclear whether or how often that happened.

Finner said Thursday that it’s too early to know how many of the 264,000 suspended reports resulted in police failing to investigate crimes that they should have pursued further. 

Finner cautioned that an early review of the data shows a significant number of reports were improperly classified or entered into the department’s case management system more than once. He also noted that some reports, such as those related to traffic crashes, do not result in a criminal case investigation. 

Records released Thursday by HPD show about 110,700 suspended incident reports were assigned to the Major Assaults and Family Violence Division, about 92,200 were handled by property, financial or cyber crimes investigators, and nearly 41,000 were worked by the vehicular crimes staff.

Although HPD leaders have struggled in recent years to bolster their ranks, Finner has repeatedly said any staff shortages weren’t a valid excuse for the department’s handling of cases, especially sexual abuse cases.

“I think where you lose respect and trust with the public is (when it comes) to a crime of violence,” he said.

In recent weeks, two assistant chiefs have been demoted from their positions, but it’s unclear what role they played in, if any, in the creation and use of the code. Kevin Deese led the Criminal Investigations Division and oversaw four units, including the Special Victims Unit. Ernest Garcia led organizational development and oversaw four units, including employee services. 

What have city leaders and criminal justice advocates said to date?

News of the code has been met with a mix of shock and reserved consternation. Some people the Houston Landing spoke with for this story said they were waiting to weigh in until the review of the incident reports and the internal affairs investigation is complete.

Others have voiced their frustration at how the HPD has been operating so long with a classification code that – if not followed up with – could harm crime victims.

“There’s a statute of limitations on prosecuting individuals. How many of those cases are not prosecutable even if they did find additional evidence?” said Kimberly Dodson, director of the criminology program at the Clear Lake campus of the University of Houston and a former sex crimes investigator in Tennessee.

In a statement, Houston City Councilmember Amy Peck said officers are “being undermined by leadership who authorized this suspension code.” She said the practice was “disrespectful to their job and to all Houstonians.”

Peck said in a follow-up interview that HPD needs to be transparent about the types of cases that were being suspended.

“You can’t just close out cases because it’s taking a long time to get through them. Other departments don’t do that,” she said.

Are Houston police solving cases at lower rates than other departments?

Despite the large number of suspended cases, HPD officers are solving crimes at rates largely similar to Texas' biggest law enforcement departments.

The HPD’s clearance rate from 2016 to 2022 is roughly average when compared to Texas' next five largest agencies: the Harris County Sheriff's Office and the Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Austin police departments.

Police can classify a case as cleared when they arrest a suspect, or they are ready to arrest a suspect but encounter "factors beyond law enforcement control that hinder the arrest, charging, and prosecution of the offender." 

The clearance data is compiled annually by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Houston Landing analyzed data to calculate clearance rates from 2016, when the suspended case coding began, to 2022, the most recent year with available data.

The figures show Houston police are clearing an above-average percentage of rape cases compared to the five other agencies, even with the roughly 4,000 suspended adult sexual assault cases.

The HPD’s clearance rates for several types of crimes -- robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft -- are average or slightly below average compared to the other agencies.

The department's murder clearance rate ranks tied for last with Dallas Police, and percentage points behind San Antonio Police and the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

What comes next?

Whitmire has said that he will identify the people who have agreed to serve on the independent review panel in the coming days. 

“I am deeply concerned about how and why this happened. The public wants answers and accountability,” Whitmire said in a statement. “This process of appointing an independent panel will validate the investigation's integrity.”

As of Thursday, nearly 75 percent of the 4,017 adult sexual assault incident reports that had been classified as “suspended – lack of personnel” had been reviewed, Finner said. More than 130 interviews with victims have been scheduled, and officers have knocked on the doors of 698 homes.

“My major concern and major priority is to make sure that we touch as many of the victims and survivors as we can in the shortest period we can and to clean up our system,” Finner said.

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