Officers disciplined in 110 misconduct incidents

Honolulu, Maui and Hawaii island police officers were disciplined in a total of 110 misconduct incidents and eight officers were discharged in 2014, according to annual reports submitted to the Legislature by the four county police departments.

In Honolulu, 39 officers were disciplined in 47 incidents, while on Hawaii island, 18 officers were disciplined in 35 cases. Some officers were named in multiple cases.

The Maui Police Department did not specify how many officers were disciplined, but reported 28 cases for the year. The Kauai Police Department reported no cases of police misconduct last year.

About 2 percent of Hono­lulu’s police officers and 4 percent of Hawaii island’s officers were disciplined in connection with misconduct incidents.

The Honolulu Police Department employs about 2,000 officers, while Hawaii island, Maui and Kauai have 430, 350 and 150 officers, respectively.

State Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point), who introduced a bill last year that strengthened a state law requiring police to submit annual reports to the Legislature, said, "It’s good to see this information, but the biggest piece of information that’s lacking is the identity of the officer."

He said other unions have to disclose the names of disciplined individuals, and legislators will try to pass legislation this session requiring police officers to do the same.

While opponents of such a requirement have said releasing the identity of a disciplined officer would hurt the officer’s ability to do his or her job, Espero counters that officers who stay out of trouble would not have a problem.

"I believe the public wants these individuals to be known," Espero said, adding that allowing the identity of disciplined officers to remain anonymous "puts a cloud over all police officers."

Tenari Maafala, president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, did not return a call for comment.

According to HPD’s report, four officers were discharged for assault, driving a vehicle without insurance, testing positive for drugs and exercising police authority while on restriction.

One of the discharged officers, who has a grievance pending, received eight disciplinary actions, including five for being absent from work and two for using police authority while on restriction.

Honolulu police Chief Louis Kea­loha declined to comment on the annual report.

The most common misconduct for HPD officers was assaulting members of the public, which resulted in discipline for eight officers.

Among the assaults: slamming a complainant’s head into the ground and striking the hand of a complainant with a stun gun. In those cases the officers received a 20-day suspension and a one-day suspension, respectively.

Another officer received a 10-day suspension for grabbing his son by the throat and punching him in the chest.

"It’s disturbing to see these actions and what could appear to be really lenient disciplinary actions in some cases," Espero said. "There’s a lot of questions that come to mind from the actual misconduct to the disciplinary action that was taken, and then the fact that some of these guys are still on the force."

One case he highlighted in the 2014 reports involved an officer who struck a complainant numerous times while the complainant was detained in the back seat of an HPD vehicle. The officer was suspended for 20 days.

In Honolulu, five officers were disciplined for falsifying police reports and received suspensions ranging from 10 to 60 days.

Three officers fled the scene of a motor vehicle collision, resulting in suspensions ranging from one to 15 days.

Ten incidents involved officers being rude, making sexual comments to the public or co-workers, or sending unwanted text messages or emails. One officer was suspended for one day for sending nearly two dozen unwanted emails to a complainant. Another got a 20-day suspension for making comments of a sexual nature to a subordinate.

Other incidents of misconduct included facilitating cockfight gambling operations (the officer left the department), surfing on the job (one-day suspension) and releasing confidential information to unauthorized individuals for outside employment (10 days’ suspension).

On Maui one officer was discharged for assaulting a child while off duty, and another was terminated for unnecessary use of force.

On Hawaii island one officer was discharged for inappropriate physical contact with a minor in two incidents, and another was dismissed after four separate incidents of assaulting complainants.

Hawaii County’s department also had numerous cases of officers failing to comply with procedures for writing reports.