HPD insists it takes domestic violence seriously, but in some cases its actions say otherwise

THIRD OF THREE PARTS

The judge faced a key decision.

Should he put more stock in the testimony of a wife who was seeking a protective order against her husband, a Honolulu Police Department officer?

Or should he accept what the officer and the official police reports said about a series of domestic disturbances involving the couple?

Family Court Judge Steven Nakashima sided with the wife, finding her “much more credible,” and described what the responding officers wrote as “less trustworthy in reflecting what actually happened,” according to the judge’s written ruling in the 2013 case.

Nakashima ruled that the husband, Johnny Bahng, was abusive, and issued an 18-month protective order to prevent future abuse.

Domestic violence victims and their advocates say that what happened in the Bahng case — officers showing favoritism toward a fellow officer — is not uncommon when one of “Honolulu’s finest” is accused of abusing a family or household member.

If the alleged abuser is an officer or a friend or family member of one, responding police often will try to downplay the seriousness of the case, discourage the victim from pursuing a complaint or take other subtle steps to show support for the accused, according to victims and advocates.

“They stick together,” said Jonelle Tsunezumi, 34, the ex-wife of former HPD officer Roddy Tsu- nezumi. She had a protective order issued against him, and he is serving 33 months in prison for a crime unrelated to domestic abuse. “It’s the brotherhood code within the Police Department.”

Mixed signals

HPD officials say the department takes domestic violence cases seriously, shows no favoritism and focuses on ways to support victims.

“We will advocate for them, we will encourage them to make a police report,” said Assistant Chief William Axt, who runs HPD’s administrative bureau. “We will encourage them to give a written statement. We want them to give a written statement. We will document everything. At no time ever do we try to downplay a situation to minimize it, to make it seem like this is just going to go away. That’s not how we operate. It’s very important that it be known that HPD is an advocate for the victims of domestic violence.”

That wasn’t the message that resonated, however, when HPD Chief Louis Kealoha earlier this year promoted a major with a history of domestic violence to assistant chief, then saw the promotion unravel following a public uproar.

It also wasn’t the message that resonated when a video surfaced in 2014 of an off-duty sergeant fighting with his girlfriend at a Waipahu restaurant. The restaurant manager called 911, but the responding officers didn’t arrest their then-colleague, Darren Cachola, or file a police report.

It also wasn’t the message that resonated with the legislative women’s caucus, which blasted the department’s initial handling of the Cachola case, saying it was “absolutely unacceptable.” Cachola no longer is on the force.

“This incident sends a dark message to victims of domestic violence and all residents of Oahu that members of HPD, who are supposed to serve and protect, may turn a blind eye to domestic violence or other criminal acts committed by one of their officers,” the caucus said in a statement after the video surfaced. “The integrity of HPD has been mired and trust has been lost.”

‘Hypermasculine’ culture

Meda Chesney-Lind, a University of Hawaii women’s studies professor and criminology expert, noted that women make up only about 11 percent of HPD’s force, which she described as “hypermasculine.”

That mentality has been reflected in HPD’s handling of domestic abuse cases involving officers, Chesney-Lind added. “The stuff we see shows it’s a considerable problem with HPD and, more than that, the leadership seems to be tone-deaf.”

Tsunezumi, the former spouse of a cop, said the officer who responded to her 911 call in 2009 — after her then-husband allegedly pushed her down some stairs while she was eight months pregnant — had been to their wedding two years earlier.

The responding officer and others unsuccessfully tried to discourage her from filing a complaint, she said. “They tried to talk me out of it.”

Tsunezumi also said her ex-husband would threaten her if she tried calling police, saying no one would believe her over the word of an officer.

Pressure and threats

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser found multiple examples of that tactic and other similar ones in its review of dozens of temporary restraining order petitions filed against officers.

In the Bahng case, Jeannie Bahng wrote in her TRO petition that her husband grabbed her, pushed her into walls and shoved her down a flight of stairs as their young children watched. “He damaged the whole master bedroom, destroying everything in the room,” she wrote.

She said she called HPD and filed a report. “HPD advised me that I did not need to press charges,” she wrote. “I was so scared for my life.”

Officer Bahng did not respond to requests for comment relayed through HPD.

Asked about Judge Nakashima’s remarks regarding the police reports, the department said it could not comment on individual cases.

TRO data

To see how often Honolulu police are accused of abuse in TRO cases, the Star-Advertiser ran the names of HPD’s 2,100 officers through the state Judiciary database. The newspaper found that TRO petitions had been filed against nearly 80 officers, or 3.7 percent of the force. The court granted restraining orders in about 75 percent of those cases, based on the written evidence cited in the petitions.

Eleven of the cases went to trial and resulted in protective orders.

Some of the written accounts in the TRO petitions were graphic and disturbing, given that the accusations were made against someone authorized to carry a gun and use deadly force.

The petitions described officers punching holes in walls in fits of rage or threatening their spouses with their service weapons. One alleged that an officer held his screaming 3-year-old son upside down by the legs and rubbed his face in a liquid the child had spilled.

After a restraining order is granted, the court holds a hearing — essentially a minitrial — to take testimony from both sides. It then decides whether the evidence is sufficient to support an abuse finding and the granting of a protective order.

Numerous exemptions

Often the initial restraining order will be dissolved even before trial, typically because the two parties have come to an agreement or the petitioner fails to pursue the case.

Restraining and protective orders automatically come with a prohibition on firearm possession by the accused. For police officers, that could threaten their ability to keep their jobs.

But judges often will grant exemptions so officers can continue working, a practice that some domestic violence victims and advocates question.

In the Bahng case the judge permitted the officer to use his HPD gun only while on duty. After his shift each day, he had to return the weapon to the department.

In the 11 cases that went to trial and resulted in protective orders, the court granted exemptions in at least half of them, the records show.

When officers served with TROs are not granted exemptions, they must turn in their badges and guns and are placed on restrictive duty — assigned office jobs — until the matter is resolved, according to Axt, the assistant chief.

In the case of a protective order, typically lasting much longer than a TRO, if the court does not grant a firearm exemption, the officer would no longer meet the minimum qualifications for the job, and HPD may seek a discharge, Axt said.

But if the court permits an exemption, the abuse finding would not affect the officer’s job duties, and HPD has to make sure it follows civil serv-ice rules, he added.

Dyan Mitsuyama, the attorney for Jeannie Bahng, questioned the wisdom of permitting such officers to remain on the job, including responding to domestic abuse calls. They still might have lingering issues with anger management or other problems, advocates say. “The biggest question to me is, Should these people continue to be officers?” Mitsuyama asked.

In Connecticut an officer with a finding of abuse cannot carry a gun and is placed on detached status, a form of unpaid leave, according to John DeCarlo, a former police chief in that state and now an associate professor in the criminal justice department at the University of New Haven.

Eric Seitz, an attorney who has sued HPD on behalf of clients but also has represented officers, said there should be degrees of accountability, taking into consideration the stresses of the job. “I don’t believe every cop who commits domestic abuse ought to be fired,” he said.

Favoring fellow officers

When police respond to domestic disturbance calls, how they classify the cases can differ.

In the case of an argument with no evidence of a crime, officers typically file what are called miscellaneous public reports, or “misc pubs,” or domestic argument reports, according to HPD. Both types are meant to document that police responded, but no follow-up investigation is conducted.

In the Bahng case “misc pubs” were filed in two incidents called in by the wife, according to court documents. When the husband called about a third incident, the report was classified as a domestic argument, the records show.

Judge Nakashima said in his ruling that testimony by witnesses and a police lieutenant made clear that the responding officers treated the husband’s call differently from the wife’s.

Advocates say favoritism like that happens a lot.

“It’s the brotherhood,” said Cathy Betts, executive director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, which has received numerous complaints about police responses to domestic abuse cases.

Misreports

City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro said his office has received calls from victims wondering why their offenders were not prosecuted. When his staff checked, the cases weren’t referred to Kaneshiro’s office because police classified the incidents as “misc pubs,” even though they should have been domestic violence reports, Kaneshiro said. Prosecutors asked police to reclassify those cases so follow-up investigations could be done.

“When they write ‘misc pub,’ you know they’re not taking it seriously,” Kaneshiro said.

Asked how often that happens, Kaneshiro said, “I’m not saying it’s prevalent, but it’s not rare.”

HPD officials said “misc pubs” and domestic argument reports generally are treated the same because neither involves evidence of a crime.

If an officer is the accused in a domestic abuse case, HPD sends a supervisor to the scene to ensure police handle the case properly, according to the department.

“Because of the way the law is written and the way our policies are written, and because we take domestic violence seriously, we document all instances of arguments and domestic violence, whether it’s an officer or not,” said Maj. Larry Lawson, commander of HPD’s criminal investigation division.

Advocates acknowledge that the agency has strengthened its domestic violence policy and training in recent years, though they say both still fall far short of best practices.

Some progress

HPD reports to the Legislature also show officers have been fired over domestic abuse cases, an indication the agency is aggressively dealing with the problem, some say.

And more officers are coming forward to report misconduct by colleagues, prompted by recent cases in which officers got into trouble for not saying anything, according to HPD officials. One case involved two officers who were federally prosecuted for trying to cover up an unprovoked attack they witnessed on patrons in a Chinatown game room in 2014. Both of those officers and Vincent Morre, the officer who assaulted the patrons, no longer are with HPD. Morre is serving a 30-month prison sentence.

The officers who are coming forward realize what the consequences are if they fail to report misconduct, including possibly losing their jobs and going to prison, Axt said. “That’s the message that’s being sent.”

To help develop more effective responses to domestic abuse cases, HPD recently started a pilot program in partnership with the Domestic Violence Action Center that brings an advocate to the scene of East Honolulu incidents to support the victim.

Nanci Kreidman, who runs the nonprofit, is optimistic the initiative will lead to better policing. “I’m hopeful that a closer relationship with police, both in practice and principle, can only be an advantage,” she said.