Former Honolulu police officer Dave E. Furtado said he wasn’t thinking when he used the names and Social Security numbers of other officers to get part-time work, which paid him less than $700, and forged the signatures of the other officers on the applications.

He said he believed what he did was wrong but did not believe it was criminal.

"I thought it was more an administrative procedure as far as special duty, which is governed by the Police Department, and a violation of that," he said.

His lawyer Jonathan Burge described Furtado’s actions as a circumvention of the system. 

"He thought he was just working more special duty," Burge said, "He knew a couple of friends who weren’t working so he used their password to get it without thinking through how very serious this is."

Burge said the employer who paid for the special duty didn’t lose any money because it would have had to pay somebody for the work, whether it was performed by Furtado or another officer.

State Circuit Judge Rom Trader told Furtado that he was concerned with Furtado’s explanation and that he should have known better.

""(Especially) a police officer such as yourself because you took an oath to uphold the law," he said.

Still, Trader gave Furtado an opportunity Tuesday to avoid conviction and to clear his criminal record of any charges.

If Furtado stays out of trouble with the law for the next five years, he can have the identity theft, unauthorized possession of confidential personal information and forgery charges, to which he pleaded guilty, and theft charges, to which he pleaded no contest, removed from his record.

Trader also ordered Furtado to pay a $2,500 fine and perform 100 hours of community service.

Prosecutor Chris Van Marter said granting Furtado a deferral of his pleas, "minimizes the seriousness of the conduct and it sends the wrong message to others in the police department who might contemplate finding ways to get around the rules, to beat the system, for their own financial gain."

Van Marter had asked Trader sentence Furtado to probation, including 90 days in jail, plus 500 hours of community service and a fine of at least $5,000.

He said Burge, a former police officer, admitted in pretrial correspondence that, ‘This special duty problem is rampant.’

"And it is. We’ve had many, many cases involving this sort of behavior," Van Marter said.

Furtado admitted using the names and Social Security numbers and forging the signatures of two officers in August and October 2010 for two special duty jobs. One was for $370 and the other for $310. Furtado cashed the $370 check by forging the signature of one officer. The other officer cashed the $310 check and gave Furtado the money.

Furtado retired from the Honolulu Police Department last May after more than 27 years of service.

Special duty jobs are those in which private companies or individuals can hire off-duty uniformed police officers to maintain order, provide security, direct traffic or take action against violations of law.