Kauai secrecy unreasonable

Kauai residents have been left in the dark after Mayor Bernard Carvalho placed on leave the island’s police chief and two assistant chiefs due to what he calls an "employee-generated complaint," which can mean just about anything. The mayor should provide more information about the allegations surrounding the three highest public officials entrusted with safeguarding the island’s public safety.

Carvalho placed Chief Darryl Perry on leave Wednesday, a day after placing Assistant Chiefs Roy Asher and Ale Quibilan on leave. All three were required to turn in their equipment. Carvalho said they would remain on leave until an investigation of allegations is completed but would not say when that would be or whether they will be paid their wages during that period.

Carvalho refused to answer questions by reporters on Thursday, directing them to his communications team. When asked whether that team would answer questions that day, he responded flippantly, "Welcome to Kauai." The county attorney has advised all county employees to remain silent, and Kauai police officers are telling reporters that they are under orders not to talk.

The mayor added in a prepared statement, "It is standard procedure to keep all information relative to the complaint confidential while the investigation is in process. This is essential to safeguard the fairness of the process and the rights and privacy of all involved."

Of course, that depends on what the public already knows or soon will learn. When police chiefs were put on leave recently in other parts of the country, the mayors in each of those cases acknowledged the issues that already had been public knowledge: In Oklahoma, the chief’s arrest on drug charges; in Texas, misuse of public funds; in Connecticut, sexual harassment; and at the University of California at Davis, pepper spraying students.

But in a small town in New Hampshire, residents are still left wondering why the police chief resigned Thursday, more than four months after he was put on paid leave that totaled $36,000.

Clearly, there is compelling reason for the public to know the circumstances under which their paid public officials are placed on leave. Kauai’s situation is no different.

Media outlets already have attributed the leaves of Kauai’s three top cops to allegations made by a current officer on the police force. Perry told the Garden Island that "the truth will come out," adding that he is "about transparency. I’m about honesty. I’m about doing the right thing."

Perry, born and raised on Kauai, was a major with the Honolulu Police Department before being selected Kauai chief in 2006.

Mayor Carvalho read the statement to reporters that the "content of the complaint" will be kept secret "while the investigation is ongoing," but he would not say whether it would be made public afterward.

"This is not the first time an employee has been placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation," he read, "and it should not be construed to be disciplinary in nature."

However, the police chief is more than your garden-variety county employee. Residents deserve to be advised about the nature of the allegations being made against the man who has been in charge of the county’s law enforcement and his two top assistants.