Twenty-two Honolulu police officers were disciplined in 2024 for 19 incidents including fleeing the scene of a car crash after a chase, using excessive force against a detainee and falsifying police reports.
That is down from 29 Opens in a new tab Honolulu Police Department officers disciplined in 2023 in connection with 28 incidents.
In 2022, 22 officers were disciplined Opens in a new tab in connection with 14 incidents. In 2021, 27 were disciplined Opens in a new tab for 22 incidents, and in 2020 there were 55 officers disciplined for 42 incidents.
HPD employs more than 1,800 officers, and the 22 officers disciplined in 2024 make up a little more than 1% of the force.
HPD Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the department “holds its officers to high standards and investigates all allegations of misconduct while also supporting our officers’ rights to due process.”
“We greatly value the trust that the public places in us, and we will continue to take the appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including discharge, when misconduct occurs,” Logan said.
The accounting of police officers who were disciplined in 2024 by each department were due Friday at the state Legislature. HPD, the Kauai Police Department and the Hawaii Police Department submitted reports to lawmakers.
A 1995 state law requires that the “chief of each county police department shall submit to the legislature no later than January 31 of each year an annual report of misconduct incidents that resulted in suspension or discharge of a police officer.”
Each report covers Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of the year immediately prior to the year of the report submission. The report is not required to include descriptions of the incidents that led to the policy violations. The law was amended in 2020 to include the officers’ names.
Formal requests for the records in each case must be filed with the county police department.
Robert Cavaco, an HPD lieutenant and president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, told the Star-Advertiser that the union believes in a just and open system for ensuring Honolulu police officers meet the “high standards demanded by both their colleagues and the community” they protect. “It is important that not all HPD officers are painted with a broad brush by those listed as part of the 5-year window of activity in this report,” Cavaco said. “While SHOPO may not concur with every detail of this annual report, we recognize the vital importance of fostering public trust in law enforcement through transparency and accountability.”
Kauai Police Department
On Kauai, Police Chief Todd Raybuck was among the seven officers disciplined by KPD in 2024.
Raybuck, who is set to retire sometime this year after 38 years in law enforcement, was suspended for three days in 2024 for failing to “properly secure a firearm on police department property.”
Raybuck took full responsibility for the March 4 incident when he left his “department-issued firearm in the police department employee restroom outside my office. The employee restroom is located in a secured area of the department that requires access via an employee key card,” according to a statement Raybuck issued April 5.
He said then that he hoped his situation served as a reminder to always safely secure firearms.
“The Kauai Police Department is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of conduct and integrity. We thoroughly investigate all allegations of misconduct and take swift, appropriate disciplinary action when necessary. Our commitment to preserving public trust is unwavering, and we work diligently to uphold that trust in all that we do,” Raybuck told the Star-Advertiser.
It was the second time Raybuck was suspended while serving as KPD chief.
In 2021, Raybuck was suspended for five days without pay for making racist comments about a Japanese American officer. County attorneys agreed in 2024 to pay $350,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the officer.
Honolulu Police Department
On Oahu the disciplined officers Opens in a new tab included three officers awaiting an appeal of criminal charges Opens in a new tab stemming from a Sept. 12, 2021, car chase and alleged cover-up that left a teenager partially paralyzed and a career criminal with a traumatic brain injury.
Officers Joshua J.S. Nahulu, Erik X.K. Smith and Jake R.T. Bartolome were terminated but filed grievances against the department. The grievance process is being held in abeyance until the criminal cases are adjudicated.
A fourth officer, Robert G. Lewis III, also faces criminal charges in connection with the crash and cover-up.
Smith, Bartolome and Lewis are charged with first-degree hindering prosecution, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. They were also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree hindering prosecution, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
All four entered not-guilty pleas March 23, 2023. Smith, Bartolome and Lewis were released after posting $5,000 bail, and Nahulu is free on $10,000 bail.
Nahulu was fired for failing to “keep his body-worn camera activated as he initiated a pursuit of the suspect’s vehicle,” and not following “prescribed pursuit policies and procedures.”
Nahulu also did not “immediately report the motor vehicle collision” when he witnessed the suspect vehicle veer off the roadway. He did not “stop and immediately render aid to injured persons and failed to preserve the crime scene” before fleeing the scene, “which resulted in serious bodily injury.”
“Upon later returning to the scene, failed to notify a supervisor of the facts and circumstances of the pursuit. Failed to document in his submitted report the facts and circumstances of the suspect vehicle being involved” in a crash during the chase, according to the report.
Nahulu was “untruthful during the administrative investigation.”
Bartolome and Smith were found in violation of many of the same department policies as Nahulu.
At the time of the crash, after returning to the scene, Bartolome and Smith both “failed to notify a supervisor of the facts and circumstances of the pursuit” and didn’t mention a crash occurred.
Bartolome also did not “activate his body-worn camera when he was flagged down by a male who reported a mugging or robbery and failed to properly investigate and/or document the incident in a police report” and lied during the administrative investigation.
Lewis was suspended in 2023 for three days.
HPD officer Derek Ota was suspended for three days in 2024 for using “unreasonable and/or excessive force when interacting with a male in custody.”
Ota also made multiple “rude comments” to emergency room staff and turned off his body-worn camera in violation of department policy while on duty.
Former officer Mason Jordan, who is facing federal criminal charges Opens in a new tab for allegedly running a child prostitution ring for five years, resigned before the department fired him in 2024.
Jordan “accessed the police report system on different occasions to conduct inquiries and obtain information on multiple female individuals for nonwork-related reasons.”
He “committed criminal acts” when he conspired with an accomplice to recruit a juvenile female as a prostitute and propositioned a juvenile female to “perform sexual acts for a fee.”
Jordan threatened to “release or expose photographs” of a partially nude juvenile, according to the report.
He pleaded guilty in April.
Hawaii Police Department
Hawaii police listed 21 officers on their 2024 disciplinary report.
They included tipping off a civilian to a police investigation, posting a selfie in uniform from the scene of a car accident, and burglary.
Officer Isabella Feki was suspended for two days after she posted a video of herself “in uniform at the scene of a traffic accident on the social media website TikTok” without the express written consent of department leadership.
The arbitration process is ongoing for officer Mark Kaili, who was fired in 2024 after he was arrested for burglary and assault and in “doing so brought himself and the department into disrepute.”
Officer Louie Ondo is appealing his termination through the grievance process after he provided confidential information to a civilian “regarding an active Vice investigation.”
Hawaii Police Chief Maj. Benjamin Moszkowicz told the Star-Advertiser that the vast majority of Hawaii Police Department officers serve with integrity, professionalism and compassion and are “committed to balancing transparency with the public and the privacy rights of our employees.”
“Police officers are the only profession mandated by law in Hawaii to publicly report to the legislature not only the circumstances around each disciplinary outcome, but the names of the officers involved, regardless of whether or not their highest nonjudicial grievance adjustment procedure is complete,” Moszkowicz said.
Maui Police Department
MPD listed four officers on its discipline list from 2024, including the pending termination of officer Carlos Frate for violating MPD’s “oath of office; code of ethics; standard of conduct” and committing a “criminal act,” lying, using excessive force and not using force in accordance with MPD policies.
Frate is accused of tasing a suspect who surrendered, then lying about it in a police report. He was indicted by a federal grand jury Jan. 16 and charged with deprivation of civil rights under the color of law and making a false report.
MPD fired Frate earlier this month. He pleaded not guilty Jan. 22 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rom A. Trader, who ordered Frate released on an unsecured $50,000 bond.
He is scheduled for trial before Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright on March 25.
