The chronicle of inadequacy emerging from the Houston Police Department has garnered a new chapter with revelations of thousands of suspended cases due to staffing shortages now being resurrected for investigation. According to an ABC13 report, a victim of aggravated assault was astounded to be contacted about an incident from 2019, expressing a now diminished appetite to "have anything to do with this case."
This reluctance underscores the broader systemic failure - a police department seemingly too destitute to properly investigate, until now. Of the 107,094 case reports reviewed, HPD has found that roughly half possess no leads to follow. Yet HPD Chief Troy Finner has pledged to decidedly continue the review of all 260,000 suspended cases, declaring his resolve in a statement obtained by ABC13, "As we work through, you may find some good news and you may find more bad news, but the fact is, I made a promise to everyone that we're going to work through each and every one of those incident reports, so that's what we're doing."
In the renewed vigor for justice, FOX26 Houston cites Chief Finner announcing that an internal affairs investigation has wrapped up, with 54 charges filed. The publicly released registry of suspects uncovers a spectrum of offenses, ranging from theft to aggravated assault, to solemn reminders of injury to the elderly. Names like Geonary Na Quawn Gillespie, who faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for a 2019 event, now find themselves on this ledger.
Amidst the bureaucratic mire, some suspect apprehensions have materialized - 22 yesterday, as per the HPD. One case, initially waived off by the police, details Gillespie allegedly threatening the victim with bodily injury by firearm. However, the victim, reflecting on the resurrected case, told ABC13, "Nobody was hungry (for information) in 2019," emphasizing the contrast between past disinterest and present pursuit. The victim, for whom it is now too distressing, wishes the wheels of justice had begun to turn when he first reported the crime.
The Houston Police Department, grappling with these cold case awakenings, encourages victims whose contact details have changed since their initial reports to reach out. Meanwhile, the department maintains its commitment to revisiting these once suspended cases, as noted in a statement following the ABC13 investigation: "This is what this review process is all about: following up, filing charges and making arrests in those incident reports that should've been initially worked. We will continue to update our community on numbers of arrests and charges we have filed throughout this extensive review."
