Posted on: Friday, February 22, 2002
Big Island police cases challenge panel
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — The Hawai'i County Police Commission will have a lot to consider today when it begins its review of Chief Jimmy Correa's first year in office.
During the past eight months, Big Island police have been involved in three shootings in Puna, two deadly traffic accidents, the arrest of a Kona detective for the murder of his wife, domestic violence cases involving other officers, and allegations of improper conduct at the Ka'u police station.
Correa and other police officials say the events are unrelated and are not an indication that the police department is in disarray.
The commission meets at 10 a.m. today at the Keauhou Beach Hotel in Kona.
When Correa took over as chief a year ago following the retirement of former Chief Wayne Carvalho, the Big Island police force was still recovering from a scandal over rigged promotions that allegedly took place in the 1980s and 1990s.
Following a lengthy trial and a December 1999 jury verdict,
$4 million-plus in damages was awarded last year to 19 retired and current police officers who said they were denied promotions because interviews were fixed in favor of candidates preferred by a former Police Chief Guy Paul. Correa was not involved in the lawsuit.
Twenty-five-year police veteran Dexter Chaves, vice chairman of the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers on the Big Island, said relations between the union and the chief's office have improved under Correa.
"He's even-handed, he's a fair guy, he's honest," Chaves said.
And since Correa took over, the police department has been more open in releasing information about serious incidents involving police officers, to the extent that it does not violate state privacy laws and the police union contract.
Correa, 48, said he cannot discuss details of the recent spate of incidents while they remain under investigation, but he wanted to reassure the public that the cases are being taken seriously and will be thoroughly reviewed.
Here are some of the more noteworthy incidents that have taken place in the past eight months:
• On June 14, police shot one of two men involved in a carjacking in Hawaiian Paradise Park in Puna. During the confrontation, suspect Shaun "Mika" Thompson, 20, killed himself with a sawed-off rifle, causing police to fire at an unarmed Keola Kanae as he was getting out the car. Kanae, 19, who has a lengthy and violent criminal past, survived and is serving a prison term.
• In November, police officials acknowledged they were investigating allegations against two police officers in the Ka'u District after a female reported that she was sexually assaulted by each officer in unrelated incidents. The woman also claimed she had used illegal drugs at the police station and was allowed to ride in patrol cars and had free run of the station.
• On Dec. 2, Gabina Makil, 66, was fatally injured when she was hit by a police car as she crossed Mamalahoa Highway fronting the Central Kona Union Church in Kealakekua. Police officials later said the fatality may have been responsible for the cancellation of the department's auto insurance policy. In its cancellation notice, the carrier noted 39 claims in the past two years.
• On Dec. 22, Santiago Vazquez, 39, was fatally shot by police while attacking another man with a hunting knife who had burst into his Leilani Estates house. An officer shot Vazquez after he refused to drop the knife, police said.
• On Jan. 4, Kona police detective Albert Pacheco, 45, shot his wife, Cathalene, several times in the head after he rammed her car. Friends said the killing culminated years of domestic abuse. Albert Pacheco is awaiting trial on murder and other charges.
Police Maj. Charles Chai said there is no particular reason for the series of incidents, and the fact that they occurred over a relatively short span of months is merely coincidental timing. "These events have no clear ties," he said.
Hilo attorney Alika Thoene, a one-time Honolulu policeman, is among several in the community who believe the problems are not that simple, and that there is too little supervision at the police department, particularly in some of the more remote districts such as Ka'u.
Even Chai admits there are times when only patrolmen — and no sergeants or lieutenants — are on duty in Ka'u, a district more than twice the size of O'ahu. He said everyone would like more mid-level managers but the county cannot afford them.
Attorney Curtis Narimatsu, a former public defender, said critics should consider Puna's well-deserved reputation as a crime-ridden, "Wild West" outpost before faulting officers' actions there.
The officers in the June 14 and Sept. 23 shootings were cleared by a high-level review board that examines the use of any revolver on duty, and the third case remains under internal investigation. All three officers were returned to active duty.
The watchdog group Citizens for Justice resurfaced in January in the wake of the recent incidents involving officers accused of domestic violence. Leader Del Pranke of Puna said Correa "is in denial" about the problems within the police force and that the Police Commission is not doing a proper job of monitoring the department. The sheer loss of life in the past year is alarming, Pranke said.
