22 Honolulu police officers disciplined in 2022

Twenty-two police officers were disciplined last year in connection with 14 incidents including covering up a cellblock beating, and failing to report a barricade incident before fatally shooting the suspect, according to the Honolulu Police Department’s annual report to the state Legislature.

The report is not required to include descriptions of the incidents that led to the policy violations, and police officials said formal requests for the records in each case must be filed in order to find out what details may be released to the public.

“The report is a step towards greater transparency from the Department,” Honolulu Police Commission Chair Doug Chin told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement. “The Commission expects the Chief and his leadership team to take allegations of misconduct by officers seriously and to hold bad actors in the Department responsible for their actions. Up until recently, the law did not require the county police departments to report officer discipline at this level of detail. Whether more detail for every incident in the report should be required is up to the Legislature.

Four of the incidents detailed in the report were brought to the commission by the public. The commission sustained all or at least a portion of each of the four complaints and reported its findings to the chief.

Officer Paul Carroll was suspended one day last year after he “failed to establish an inner perimeter and failed to notify the Communications Division about the barricade incident. Made forcible entry into the apartment despite the lack of exigent circumstances necessitating such action,” according to the report, which indicates the incident happened in 2021.

Carroll allegedly found a suspect wanted in connection with a car crash in patrol District 3, which covers Red Hill to Village Park and Waipahu, according to sources.

The man allegedly fled when confronted by Carroll and barricaded himself in his apartment. The case started as a motor vehicle collision investigation but turned into a threatening case after the suspect armed himself with a knife.

Carroll broke through the door. The man charged at him with the knife. Carroll shot him at point-blank range, killing him. Carroll has a grievance pending in the case.

The report includes all active cases of police discipline that are either in the grievance or arbitration process, and cases adjudicated between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022.

In 2021, 27 officers were disciplined for 22 incidents and in 2020 there were 55 officers disciplined for 42 incidents. There are about 2,000 officers on the force, meaning the 22 officers disciplined last year make up about 1% of the force.

“COVID did play a very large role in the decline. There was a decrease in officers’ interactions with the public that resulted in, obviously, a decreased number of complaints,” said Deputy Chief Rade K. Vanic, while presenting the report to the Honolulu Police Commission on Wednesday.

Vanic noted that two measures before the state Legislature this session would keep the names of officers disciplined off the report until the grievance or arbitration process is complete and the case is final.

State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers President Robert Cavaco told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the union supports “a fair and transparent process that holds police officers to the high standards expected of them by our fellow officers and the community we serve.”

“The number of officers in the report is a small fraction of the nearly 2,000 officers who work daily to keep our island safe. It is also important to note that many of the cases listed in the report have not been adjudicated through our grievance process, and a number of them date as far back as 2017,” Cavaco noted. “As such, judgment should be reserved on both the officer and the discipline proposed by the department. We understand how critically important it is to continue to instill confidence in the law enforcement profession by supporting transparency and accountability.”

HPD is required by law to provide the number of officers who were suspended or discharged for the following categories: malicious use of force, mistreatment of prisoners, use of drugs and narcotics, and cowardice.

In 2022, eight officers were suspended or discharged involving two separate incidents. The same officer may appear in more than one category. Those eight officers accounted for three instances of malicious use of force and three instances of mistreatment of prisoners.

Five of them were suspended for mistreatment of a prisoner.

Warren Rohr “failed to ensure that subordinates received proper instruction or guidance to address a detainee’s behavior in an appropriate manner and failed to ensure that subordinates were properly supervised when they entered the detainee’s holding cell with the intention to take away the detainee’s clothing” in connection with an incident in the main police cellblock.

Rohr is currently in arbitration over a 20-day suspension he received from the department.

Cole Dante is facing a second-degree assault investigation and grieving his 10-day suspension after he allegedly “used unreasonable force by grabbing and forcing a detainee onto a bench when the detainee was not initially resisting or given a reasonable opportunity to comply with instructions. He allegedly used unreasonable force again “while assisting with restraining the detainee in an effort to remove the detainee’s clothes without justification.” Dante also allegedly failed to intervene and “take appropriate action upon witnessing the detainee being subjected to unreasonable force by other officers,” according to the report.

Sean Kim resigned before receiving his 10-day suspension for policy violations identical to Dante’s and was also being investigated for second-degree assault.

“The initiation of a criminal case does not imply that the case was accepted for prosecution or that it was a determining factor in the disciplinary action taken against the officer,” reads a disclaimer at the bottom of each set of entries in the 17-page report.

Corey Morgan is grieving his termination after he allegedly used excessive and/or unreasonable force when he “pushed a handcuffed arrestee head first into a shelving unit and struck him in the face without justification.”

The report accuses Morgan of striking the arrestee’s face while the arrestee was handcuffed and caused “the arrestee to sustain bodily injury.” Morgan allegedly submitted an incomplete report when he did not document the use of force and/or did not submit the appropriate form and was untruthful and/or falsified his submitted report when he “knowingly wrote a false statement about how the arrestee was injured.”

Morgan also was allegedly unprofessional and/or acted inappropriately when directing profanity toward the arrestee. He is under investigation for second-degree assault.

Matthew Ogoshi is grieving his termination for trying to cover up the alleged attack and failing to stop it.

Honolulu Police Commissioner Ann Botticelli asked Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan and Vanic about the grievance and disciplinary process in comparison to the firing of five Memphis , Tenn., police officers and the filing of murder charges weeks after evidence emerged that they beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, after which he died.

“How is it that they can act so quickly in Memphis but our process goes on for so long?,” she asked, during the commission’s meeting Wednesday.

Logan explained that he would have to understand the Memphis police department’s contractual relationship with its officers. The collective bargaining agreement HPD maintains with SHOPO allows for the grievance and arbitration process for disciplinary actions.

HPD can immediately take an officer off the street, suspended their police powers and place them in an administrative role while administrative and/or criminal investigations play out.

“That’s how it’s set up in the contract today,” said Logan, in response to Botticelli’s questioning. “We are here today with the situation we have. Can we take a look at that? I’m sure that’s a discussion we may have. I think it’s worth taking a look at to see and have the discussion with SHOPO.”