State lawmakers sent Police Chief Art Acevedo a letter Friday urging him to release the results of an internal audit of the Houston Police Department’s embattled Narcotics Division conducted after a fatal drug raid last year.

The letter comes days after the HPD sought permission from the Texas Attorney General to keep the audit from the public, citing sweeping sections of the state’s public records laws.

In the March 4 letter, State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, wrote that the continuing revelations of misconduct that have emerged about the Jan. 28 2019 drug raid that ended with the deaths of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle have “severely compromised” the public’s trust of HPD’s special units and criminal investigations. Democratic state Reps. Anna Eastman, Christina Morales, Jon Rosenthal and Senfronia Thompson all co-signed the letter.

In the aftermath of the raid, case agent Gerald Goines was accused of lying to obtain a warrant and ultimately charged with murder. He has since retired and has been accused of misconduct stretching back at least to 2008, including having sex with a confidential informant and lying about cases. Two men convicted on his testimony had their convictions overturned in February. He also faces charges in federal court of violating the couple’s civil rights and lying. His former partner, Steven Bryant, is charged in state and federal court with tampering with government records.

Days after the botched raid, Chief Art Acevedo publicly promised to report back “everything we find” to the community. The police department, the FBI and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office all launched investigations into the operation. Alongside his department’s criminal investigation, Acevedo also ordered an administrative review of the Narcotics Division.

On Feb. 26, the day District Attorney Kim Ogg revealed that dozens of people convicted on Goines’ casework or testimony were possibly innocent, Acevedo tweeted a list of reforms to the Narcotics Division’s standard operating procedures.

Narcotics investigation: Botched Houston drug raid not the first

But more than a year after the raid, the chief, who frequently touts the importance of transparency in both his roles as chief of the Houston Police Department and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, has yet to release a copy of the department’s now-completed audit of the narcotics division.

Houston Chronicle articles since the raid have detailed supervision failures in Goines’ cases, errant raids by narcotics officers, and problems in oversight of confidential informant funds in undercover units. After the Chronicle requested a copy of the department’s audit under the Texas Public Information Act, the Houston Police Department on March 5 sent a letter to the Texas Attorney General seeking permission to withhold the documents. The department did not identify specific reasons for their request.

An HPD spokesman said Acevedo doesn’t plan to release the audit because of the pending federal and state criminal prosecutions against Goines and because HPD doesn’t want to jeopardize those cases.

“That makes no sense, that sounds like a stall tactic,” Wu said, in an interview. “If you’re going to tell the public that this was wrong, that we’ve done wrong in the past and we’re going to do better, then … you need to tell what you believe you did wrong and show you have understanding that the organization understands exactly was done wrong.”

Wu urged the chief to make the document public, saying such a move is an “important step” to rebuild public confidence in the police department. He questioned Acevedo’s decision to publish his department’s reforms without explaining the problems his investigators found.

“Our community needs transparency now more than ever,” Wu wrote. He said withholding the audit’s disclosure would constitute a “mistake” and a “disservice to the 99 percent of other officers who do their jobs professionally and ethically every day.”

Dig deeper: Documents show oversight lapses in Houston PD’s handling of confidential informants

Wu, a former prosecutor, also called on Acevedo to provide an unredacted copy of the report the district attorney’s office.

“The police, like any government agency, works for the public,” he said. “This audit belongs to the public. … If you won’t even admit what you did wrong, how do we trust you’ll fix it in the future?”

Another official responded to the issue as well. On Thursday, Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis called for an independent audit of the narcotics division.

“To restore integrity and public trust in our justice system, this process should be conducted by third party experts and the findings should be made available to the public,” Ellis said.

Related: Key Houston police narcotics officers at center of fatal Harding Street drug raid tallied few arrests, low-level busts

Last month, Harris County judges declared two brothers convicted on Goines’ casework “actually innocent.”

Jonathan Landers, the attorney for one of the brothers convicted on the basis of Goines’ casework declared “actually innocent,” said Acevedo had to balance his claims of not wanting to jeopardize the criminal case against Goines with his responsibilities at the helm of the Houston Police Department.

“The police chief has always been vocal about transparency and wanting to earn the respect of those he serves,” Landers said. “The first step in doing that is letting the public know they can trust his police officers and supervisors — and withholding information gives people a reason to distrust what’s going on at HPD.”

The lawyer representing the relatives of Rhogena Nicholas said Acevedo’s actions have undercut his claims of a commitment to transparency.

“If you're telling us you’re fixing something and not telling us all the problems, it’s an empty promise,” said Mike Doyle, the family’s attorney. “The family has been asking since the beginning for the transparency that Acevedo and the city kept promising, and they've been getting stonewalled.”

Houston Chronicle reporter Samantha Ketterer contributed to this report.