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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Police chief to step down at year's end

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Big Island Police Chief Lawrence K. Mahuna, who worked to mend his department's battered public image and led the police mobilization for the county's "War on Ice" early this decade, has announced he will retire from the department at the end of this year.

Mahuna was out sick yesterday, but in a statement released to the media he said he believes he accomplished many of the goals he set out to achieve through teamwork and team spirit.

"It is now time to hand over a much superior and professional Police Department, so that the next chief selected by the Police Commission will take the Hawai'i Police Department to new heights of excellence," he said.

Mahuna, who turns 58 today, took charge of the department in late 2002. He is the Big Island's 11th police chief, and is a 35-year veteran of the department.

Mahuna said in his statement he plans to spend his retirement doing volunteer work with parents of "at risk" juveniles who are using or may be tempted to use drugs. He said he wants to teach appropriate parenting techniques, and encourage a focus on higher education.

The county Police Commission will select a new chief for the department, which has 419 officers and 133 civilian employees.

As chief, Mahuna oversaw a dramatic expansion in staffing of the police vice operations as part of Big Island Mayor Harry Kim's so-called "War on Ice," and lobbied for more money for his department to cope with a drug problem that was once seen as a crisis on the Big Island.

Shortly after taking control of the department, Mahuna pledged that police would aggressively pursue citizen complaints about drug houses, and would make drug dealers fear law enforcement. Mahuna said at the time he believed that the police crackdown on drug houses would help win back community confidence in his department.

Under his leadership the department also cooperated closely with federal authorities, encouraging joint operations that resulted in some very large methamphetamine seizures and dozens of federal prosecutions.

While the island continues to have a drug problem, police say the price of meth has escalated and the number of public complaints has dropped dramatically, hints that the enforcement effort funded with state, county and federal money had an impact.

Mahuna also stressed to officers and recruits the importance of being polite and respectful to the public as they carry out their day-to-day duties. In a 2003 interview he remarked that "I've tried to emphasize a new humility, a compassion for people that perhaps got lost in the shuffle at times."

The Big Island Police Commission in 2006 praised Mahuna for his willingness to punish officers found guilty of misconduct, which the commission believed was linked to a drop in the average number of citizen complaints about police that were filed over the previous three years.

Mahuna fired four officers for misconduct in 2004 and another four in 2005. The four terminations in either of those two years amounted to more firings than the combined total for the Big Island department from 1999 to 2003.

In his statement announcing his retirement, Mahuna noted that during his tenure police added their special response team, and provided officers with expandable batons and electronic control devices, also known as Tasers.

As chief, Mahuna also oversaw an effort to mend the often strained relationship between Big Island police and the news media, holding regular meetings among reporters and some leaders in the department to try to hash out differences and improve procedures for releasing information to the public.

During his police career, Mahuna served as a detective in the vice and criminal investigation sections, a captain in command of the North Kohala and South Kohala patrol districts, and a major in charge of the Technical Services Division in the Administrative Bureau. He was promoted to assistant chief in December 1998, and was named chief in 2002.

He took command of the department after years of controversy that included allegations that police mishandled or took too long to resolve some high-profile cases.

One was the investigation into the 1992 death of Yvonne Mathison. Her husband, police officer Kenneth Mathison, was found guilty of her murder three years later.

Another was the six-year investigation of the 1991 rape and murder of Dana Ireland in Puna.

The year after Mahuna took charge of the department, county officials settled what was then the most expensive lawsuit in Big Island history by paying $2 million to 19 current and former police officers in connection with a Police Department cheating scandal.

That lawsuit alleged that former police Chief Guy Paul indicated to subordinates who he wanted promoted, and those candidates were given improper assistance during the oral portion of the Police Department promotion examinations.

Paul, who was not a defendant in the case, acknowledged during the trial he told subordinates who he wanted promoted so "they would not operate in the dark."

That litigation played out on the pages of Big Island newspapers year after year until the settlement was finally reached, further tarnishing the department's image.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.