Crime
Houston police chief apologizes for department’s failure to investigate 264,000 cases people due to staffing problems
“What has happened since 2016 is unacceptable. HPD as a department owns this problem, and as chief, I will make sure we fix it,” says Houston Police Chief Troy Finner
HOUSTON (AP) – Houston’s police chief pledged Thursday to restore public trust in his department after revelations that over the past eight years, more than 264,000 cases, including more than 4,000 involving sexual assault, were dismissed because of lack of staff.
Last month, Chief Troy Finner announced that hundreds of thousands of incident reports, including sexual assault and property crimes, were never forwarded for investigation because officers assigned them an internal code citing a lack of available staff. This figure represents approximately 10% of the 2.8 million incident reports filed over the past eight years.
“I apologize to the victims, their families and our citizens for the use of the code in cases of sexual assault and other violent crimes against persons,” Finner said at a news conference Thursday. “These are not the trauma-informed and victim-centered services they deserve. I’ll say it again: this code should never have been used and will never be used again.”
Finner’s news conference came a day after Mayor John Whitmire announced he would establish an independent panel to review police handling of closed cases, saying the public “wants answers and accountability.”
“How can something like this (code) exist? …I’m shocked by this. This is unacceptable,” Whitmire said.
The internal code, a part of the department’s records management system, was created in 2016, years before Finner took over as chief in April 2021. It was utilized in the 2 administrations that preceded him.
Finner said he first learned of officers’ use of the code in November 2021 and issued an order to stop it. But on February 7 this 12 months, he learned that it was still getting used to dismiss a major variety of adult sexual assault cases.
An internal affairs investigation is looking into why the order to stop using the code was not complied with and the way the code was first used, Finner said.
Two deputy chiefs have already been demoted for their roles within the case. Citing the continued investigation, Finner declined to comment on whether more employees could face disciplinary motion.
He said his department’s top priority is reaching out to people who filed greater than 4,000 sexual assault reports that were suspended. At least 32 officers have been assigned to review these cases, contact people and conduct follow-up interviews.
So far, over 3,000 such cases have been considered and hearings have been scheduled for 133 victims. Police are also working to contact people who’ve filed reports of domestic violence, Finner said.
109,000 reports filed with the essential assault unit and 91,000 for property and financial crimes were also suspended. Finner said 6,537 reports filed with the homicide unit were dismissed, but most of them involved allegations of assault and threats.
Police departments across the country are facing an increasingly urgent staffing crisis as many younger officers retire, older officers retire and the variety of requests for filling vacancies is falling rapidly.
Houston isn’t any exception. Finner said the department, which employs about 5,200 officers, needs a further 2,000 employees to provide enough staff. He added, nevertheless, that this will not be a reason to discontinue a whole bunch of 1000’s of cases.
“What has happened since 2016 is unacceptable. HPD as a department owns this, and as chief, I will make sure we fix it,” Finner said.
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Houston police chief apologizes for department’s failure to investigate 264,000 cases due to staffing problems. First appeared on TheGrio.
Crime
Sean “Diddy” Combs faces five new sexual assault trials
Several more plaintiffs got here forward this week accusing rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse. On November 19, three men and two women filed separate complaints against the Bad Boy Records founder through Tony Buzbee, a lawyer who previously said he would represent greater than 100 clients accusing Combs of misconduct.
“For years, Combs and his companies have engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of violence against women, men and minors,” the entire complaints read: in keeping with People magazine. “This abuse was at times verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. As part of his pattern of molestation, Combs manipulated both men and women into participating in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity, with both prostitutes and unsuspecting partygoers.”
The new plaintiffs include an unidentified man who claims the rapper sexually assaulted him when he was 39 years old. At a house party in New York in 2022, the plaintiff alleged that he was given a drink that left him feeling disoriented and uncontrolled. his body, which ultimately caused him to lose consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, he recalls being in a “dark bedroom with black walls, on a bed with black sheets”, where he realized that Combs was “sodomizing him”. The plaintiff claims he fought with the rapper before leaving the party.
Other male plaintiffs, including an unnamed former actor, remember feeling disoriented, passing out and waking up as Combs sexually assaulted them. With allegations dating back to 2001, all five complaints said Combs’ alleged abuse was “shockingly typical” since the star believed he was “above the law.”
“That said, Mr. Combs vehemently and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” attorney Erica Wolff added in a press release. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and defending himself in court where the truth will be determined by evidence, not speculation.”
Combs is currently in federal custody awaiting trial on criminal charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. The star’s trial is scheduled to happen in May 2025.
Crime
Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors
Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, CEO of startup AllHere Education, Inc. dealing with AI education accused of defrauding investors.
The Southern District of New York prosecuted Smith-Griffin securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury indictment alleged that Smith-Griffin lied concerning the education platform’s funds and posed as a financial consultant to supply false information to investors. While acting as a financial consultant for AllHere Education, Smith-Griffin is accused of falsifying the corporate’s financial records mislead potential investors and inflate the worth of her company and its revenues.
AllHere Education is an AI-powered learning platform utilized in primary and secondary schools. Smith-Griffin has had little success integrating the K-12 platform into individual school districts in California and Georgia. However, the principal didn’t secure long-term contracts with school districts. She used these short-term partnerships to misrepresent to investors the reach and financial success of AllHere Education.
Smith-Griffin told potential AllHere investors that AllHere generated about $3.7 million in revenue in 2020, about $2.5 million in money and has major school district customers similar to New York City Department of Education (“NYC DOE”) and Atlanta Public Schools. In fact, AllHere generated roughly $11,000 in revenue in 2020, had roughly $494,000 in money, and had no contracts with many of the clients it represented, including the NYC DOE and Atlanta Public Schools.
Smith-Griffin continued to boost capital to support the startup, raising one other $10 million in funding. When the corporate collapsed financially, Smith-Griffin allegedly used the money injection to pay for an extravagant three-day wedding in Florida and a residence in North Carolina.
FBI Deputy Director James E. Dennehy commented on Smith-Griffin’s decision to prioritize her personal aspirations over the needs of an educational platform.
“Her alleged actions impacted the potential to improve the learning environment in core school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses,” he said.
Smith-Griffin faces a compulsory two years in prison for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 20 years for every fraud charge. AllHere Education is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Crime
Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was trying to reach potential witnesses and influence public opinion while in prison in a bid to influence potential jurors in an upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors said in a court filing during which they urged a judge to deny his latest bail request.
The government charges were filed Friday evening in federal court in Manhattan, which opposed the music mogul’s latest offer of $50 million bail. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.
Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded phone calls Combs made while in prison shows that he asked relations to contact potential victims and witnesses and urged them to create a “narrative” to influence the jury pool. They say he also encouraged the use of promoting strategies to influence public opinion.
“The defendant has demonstrated time and time again – even while in custody – that he’ll flagrantly and repeatedly disregard the foundations so as to improperly influence the consequence of his case. In other words, the defendant has demonstrated that he can’t be trusted to abide by the terms and conditions,” prosecutors wrote in a press release containing redactions.
Prosecutors wrote that from his behavior it might be inferred that Combs wanted to blackmail victims and witnesses into remaining silent or providing testimony helpful to his defense.
Combs’ lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors said Combs, 55, began breaking the foundations almost immediately after being taken into custody Metropolitan Prison Center in Brooklyn after his September arrest.
He pleaded not guilty to the costs brought against him he abused and molested women for years with the assistance of a network of collaborators and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Two judges found he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
His lawyers recently filed a 3rd bail application after rejecting two previous attempts, including a $50 million bail offer.
In their motion, they cited modified circumstances, including latest evidence, that they believed justified Combs’ release so he could higher prepare for his May 5 trial.
However, prosecutors said defense lawyers created the most recent bail proposal based on evidence provided to them by prosecutors, and the brand new material was already known to defense lawyers after they submitted previous bail applications.
In their presentation to the judge, prosecutors said Combs’ behavior in prison shows he must remain locked up.
For example, they said, Combs asked relations to plan and execute a social media campaign around his birthday “with the intent of influencing a potential jury in this criminal proceeding.”
He encouraged his children to post a video on their social media accounts of them gathering to have a good time his birthday, he added.
He then monitored statistics on the jail, including audience engagement, and “explicitly discussed with the family how to ensure the film would have the desired impact on potential jury members in this case,” they said.
The government also alleged that Combs made clear in other conversations that he intended to anonymously publish information that he believed would help him defend against the costs.
“Defendant’s efforts to impede the fairness of these proceedings also include his persistent efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of violence, who could provide strong testimony against him,” prosecutors wrote.
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