Over the past year and a half, police have come under attack across the country for perceived misconduct.
Fueled by the Black Lives Matter movement and the Obama administration‘s Justice Department activities involving selected police departments, these attacks have become not only fashionable, but politically correct.
Here in Honolulu, the Star-Advertiser recently did an “expose” about misconduct at the Honolulu Police Department (“Crossing the Line,” Aug. 21-23), and published an article with a predicable left slant from a University of Hawaii professor of sociology (“Police misconduct will continue as long as we do nothing about it,” Island Voices, Aug. 28).
Factors offered as reasons misconduct exists at HPD include a “blue code of silence,” union protection, a work environment that
invites misconduct,
favoritism shown to police defendants by the court system through deferrals and no contest pleas, and a flawed complaint system that requires complainants to submit their grievances in writing.
Taken together, these factors present quite an indictment; but viewed separately, without the PC hype, a different picture emerges.
>> Blue code of silence:
Is HPD different from any other job — sociology class notwithstanding — where its members are at a high risk of being injured or killed in the line of duty, and now are subjected to added scrutiny and media attack that, at least on the mainland, is racially motivated?
>> Deferrals and no contest pleas in court proceedings:
Deferrals are statutory, subject to legal requirements; there is no law that prohibits a law enforcement officer from getting a deferral that any other defendant might receive, if they qualify.
By not allowing law enforcement officers the opportunity to defer a charge that any other defendant could defer, simply because of his or her status as a law enforcement officer, you would be essentially giving fewer rights to a law enforcement officer than the average citizen and inviting an equal-protection lawsuit. As for pleading “no contest” to a criminal charge, such a plea is a defendant’s right that a judge cannot prohibit.
>> Unions and misconduct:
SHOPO, like any other effective union, advocates for its members. Attempt to take away a UH professor’s tenure for cause and witness the outrage.
Regarding the opportunity for misconduct, it exists in many professions. UH recently passed a resolution prohibiting teacher/student relationships because the opportunity for misconduct exists in the teaching profession.
>> Complaints:
The purpose of complaints against law enforcement officers is to hold them accountable for misconduct.
The complainant should also be held accountable, to ensure that complaints are legitimate. Imagine the potential for abuse, in any forum, if an anonymous complaint has to be taken seriously and investigated simply because it has been lodged. It is common sense that lack of accountability invites abuse of process.
Some have suggested that police misconduct in Honolulu is even more egregious than the mainland because Honolulu is easier to patrol than mainland cities, in part because there is little racial inequality here. However, time spent in a ride-a-long with HPD or in criminal court suggests otherwise. Racial tension exists anywhere there are people of different color, including Honolulu.
It is time to get off the “cops are bad” bandwagon. Bad cops exist and should be prosecuted accordingly. However, those who fan the flame of police hatred, many from the safety of their sanctuaries, should acknowledge that the vast majority of cops, good cops, are out there at all hours of the day and night, putting their lives on the line to keep us safe.
I, for one, thank them.
Lawrence A. Sousie is a prosecutor in the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office; he wrote this as a private citizen so the views here are his own and do not represent the Prosecutor’s Office.
