Houston PD contacts thousands of victims over suspended rape cases

( NewsNation ) — Police in Houston, Texas, are working to contact thousands of sexual assault victims after cases were classified as suspended due to a lack of personnel.

The move comes after a report found police had classified 264,371 cases as suspended due to insufficient staffing between 2016 and 2024, including more than 4,000 rape cases. The special victims unit used the label 9,012 times, and the homicide division used it 6,537 times.

Among the 9,012 cases classified as suspended for lack of resources by the unit, 726 had been closed with no arrests, 398 were cleared after the suspect was arrested or died, and more than 3,800 were deactivated because there were no leads. That leaves more than 4,000 that still need investigating.

Until 2023, the department didn’t know how often the designation was being used. The department began investigating the use of the classification following a robbery case where the suspect fled, broke into a nearby home, tied up a man and sexually assaulted his wife while the couple’s children slept nearby.

Police investigating the case found that evidence from the case matched a 2022 sexual assault case. When they pulled up the case, they found the SL label, indicating it had been suspended due to a lack of police personnel. That prompted a deep dive into the use of the classification.

Suspended cases included those where collected DNA evidence matched profiles already in the system, leads that could have led to arrests and charges had police followed up instead of suspending the case.

Former Chief Troy Finner resigned amid the review after admitting at least 96 cases with DNA evidence linked to a previously arrested suspect were never investigated.

One victim whose case was not prosecuted told local media she was told it would be too difficult, even with DNA evidence, text messages and video of the suspect bragging about the crime.

Police are now reaching out to victims whose cases were suspended after allocating more personnel to investigating those crimes. The department has also launched a call line and created an email direct for victims whose cases were suspended to contact them.

Former interim police Chief Larry Satterwhite said the department was not running from its mistakes while cautioning about the reallocation of resources because it would, he claimed, detract from investigating property crimes.

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