Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
A state judge ruled Monday that the Honolulu Police Department must turn over certain disciplinary records requested by Peer News, which does business in Hawaii as Honolulu Civil Beat.
Peer News had requested from HPD the records of 12 cases in which officers were suspended for periods ranging from 20 to 620 days.
HPD denied the request because state law requires the disclosure of misconduct records for county police officers only in cases that resulted in the officer’s discharge. For all other state and county employees, the law requires the disclosure of misconduct records when they are suspended or discharged.
When state lawmakers approved the exemption for police officers in 1995, they required all the county police departments to report to the Legislature annually the types of discipline they have handed out and for what kind of misconduct. The police departments are not required to report the names of the disciplined officers.
Peer News lawyer Robert Brian Black said Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto’s ruling applies only to the 12 cases it had requested from HPD. But he said the impact of Sakamoto’s ruling "would seem to apply to any request" for police disciplinary records.
The judge said police officers do not have personal privacy rights.
A city spokesman said the city cannot comment on the ruling because the case is still in litigation.
81