Posted on: Thursday, March 7, 2002

Officer says discipline unfair

Advertiser Staff

Former police union official Alex Garcia said he is being unfairly disciplined by the department because he has been publically critical of police command.

But Police Chief Lee Donohue said the discipline was based on the infractions and not done in retaliation for the stances that Garcia advocated as an official with the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers.

Garcia, a 13-year veteran of the Honolulu Police Department, said he was served with 40 days' suspension without pay for violating "departmental policies with regard to two police reports." He declined to be more specific but said the suspension was unusually severe for such an infraction.

Donohue, in a written statement, said union rules prohibit him from discussing what Garcia was disciplined for.

Garcia was SHOPO's O'ahu chapter chairman but lost his re-election bid to Kimo Smith in December. SHOPO represents about 3,000 officers statewide.

In August Garcia called for Donohue and his command staff to resign after the indictment of two high-ranking officers, Assistant Chief Rafael Fajardo Jr. and Maj. Jeffrey Owens, on felony theft charges.

The indictments were in connection to a scheme in which money allegedly was taken from the inmates' food fund and used for lavish meals for officers.

Garcia also has spoken out against police pay policies, the radio communications system, disciplinary actions and what he called police staffing shortages.