Posted on: Saturday, December 29, 2001

Kaua'i police chief regrets going on leave

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua‘i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — An emotional Police Chief George Freitas yesterday told the Kaua'i Police Commission he now believes he should not have obeyed a commission order Aug. 13 to stop coming to work.

"You don't have the authority to do this to me. Please tell me where that authority rests," he said.

Nearly five months after he was placed on leave with pay, Freitas remains off the job pending the resolution of the commission's investigation of complaints about his performance.

The panel yesterday was scheduled to hold a hearing on the dwindling list of charges against the chief, but after the intervention of U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway, the commission met in executive session and did not publicly hear the case. It dismissed two more charges, but deferred any action on the three remaining specific counts.

Freitas attorneys Margery Bronster and John Hoshibata had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to block yesterday's hearing. During an extended off-the-record conference call between Mollway, Bronster and attorneys for the county, the judge convinced Bronster to drop the restraining order in return for the county agreeing that the commission would take no action at yesterday's meeting to sustain any charges.

Mollway set aside court time Jan. 14 to hear any legal motions arising from the proceedings. Hoshibata said he anticipates filing a new motion for an order restraining the commission from taking action against the chief. County Attorney Hartwell Blake said no further action by the commission would occur until after that date.

Freitas said he unwillingly agreed to stop work after being told he was being placed on leave at a meeting with Blake, Police Commission chairwoman Dede Wilhelm and Mayor Maryanne Kusaka.

Freitas said that when he went to his office to remove personal effects, he found it had been searched and that his department firearm, his badge and various personal belongings had been taken. He said he has not been told under what authority his belongings were removed.

The commission arranged for Honolulu Police Commission investigator John Ko to look into the allegations against the chief. Ko reportedly interviewed nearly every department employee before presenting the commission with a report several inches thick.

Ko started with a reported 10 charges brought to the commission by now-retired Assistant Chief Mel Morris and detective Lt. Alvin Seto.

Ko recommended dismissing three charges and proceeding with seven. The commission at a Nov. 26 meeting dismissed two more, leaving five. At yesterday's meeting, after reviewing Freitas' brief written responses to the charges, the commission dismissed another two charges, leaving three.

The dismissed charges include parking on the wrong side of the street and being rude to a subordinate.

The essence of the three remaining charges:

• That Freitas interfered with a criminal investigation by ordering police investigators not to re-interview the wife of a police officer accused of sexual assault. Freitas, in documents supporting his court motions, said, in part, that he acted in accordance with advice from a county attorney.

• That Freitas allowed a female companion to accompany him in a county-owned car while they shopped for a home in west Kaua'i. Freitas said he never shopped for a home on the west side, having concluded it was too far from his work in Lihu'e.

• That Freitas was "ranting, raving and out of control" in a meeting with Morris about Seto's investigation of the chief, violating a police department rule that officers treat each other with respect. Freitas, who said acting Chief Willie Ihu witnessed the meeting, denies having lost his temper.

Hoshibata said the details of the charges and the names of witnesses who might have made statements that either supported or contradicted the charges have never been made available to the chief. Without that information, Freitas is unable to provide a more complete response, he said.

Hoshibata yesterday asked the commission to reinstate Freitas while the case is worked out. The commission received the request but did not act on it.

It also failed to act on Freitas' request for the legal grounds for his being placed on leave.

"Can you simply answer that question? Where was your authority to tell me not to come to work?" he asked.