Posted at 2:44 p.m. Tuesday, January 29, 2002

Freitas case ends with reprimand only

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i—The Kaua'i Police Commission investigation of Chief George Freitas, which started with secret allegations of misconduct and intense publicity, today fizzled.

After suspending the chief for five months while it conducted its investigation, the commission today issued him two letters of reprimand and dropped the most serious of the remaining contentions.

The case is over, said deputy county attorney Laurel Loo.

Freitas said he plans to appeal the decision to reprimand him in the final two counts, and complained that he was never given a proper hearing and has never been presented with detailed charges against him or the results of the investigations.

"I can't defend myself without the investigation," he said. "I want some specificity"

The commission upheld the two counts when it found Freitas had allowed a civilian to ride in his county vehicle and had yelled at a subordinate, in violation of department policy.

The panel voted 3-2 to dismiss the most serious of the 12 allegations originally filed against him—that he had interfered in a criminal investigation.

"I believe the rules and laws were consistent with his actions," said Comissioner Michael Ching, who was joined by Dede Wilhelm and Victor Punua in setting aside the charge.

Freitas was placed on paid leave in August 2001 after two senior police officers met with the commission in Freitas' absence and filed a series of complaints. He was not allowed back on the job until Jan. 7.

After he was placed on leave, the county arranged to have Honolulu Police Commission investigator John Ko conduct a review of the charges, resulting in a bill to the county of roughly $25,000 and an investigative report six inches thick.

It turned out some of the complaints involved such issues as someone having seen the chief park on the wrong side of the street. Freitas. Freitas remembered the incident and said he had been directed by security personnel to park where he did.

At its first meeting on the results of the investigation, the commission dismissed all but five counts, and at a subsequent meeting it pared those down to the three final charges.

At today's meeting, Freitas said most of the case could have been dealt with if the commission had simply asked for explanations.

"Nobody had the courage or the courtesy to ask me," he said.

In the most serious of all the allegations brough against him, the chief was accused of having ordered investigators not to use information gathered in an internal sexual harassment complaint to attempt to gain testimony from a witness in an unrelated criminal complaint. He said he was guided in his decision by a discussion with a deputy county attorney.

Two commissioners, retired police officer Norman Holt and Stanton Pa, took the hardest lines among the commissioners. They voted to uphold the hindering prosecution charge, and held out for a more severe punishment than a letter of reprimand on the allegation Freitas yelled at an employee.

"Personally, I think this behavior is much more serious than just an oral or written reprimand," Holt said.