The Kauai Police Commission on Friday suspended Kauai Police Chief Todd Raybuck for three days for leaving his department-issued Glock handgun in an employee restroom in March, but declined to pursue further action on two related complaints accusing the chief of retaliating against the officers who found the weapon.
The Police Commission announced in a statement that it “found that the evidence does not support the allegations made in the Complaints to justify further action.”
The complaints, filed in April by two Kauai Police Department officers, were discussed by the commission in executive session during its monthly meeting Friday. The commissioners’ decision was announced in open session before the meeting closed.
Although not part of the commission’s public statement, Raybuck, in his own statement issued Friday after the meeting, said he had received the three-day suspension.
“As previously stated, I accept full responsibility for my actions,” he said, while denying the accusations contained in the complaints.
He said that the outcome of the nearly seven-month investigation into the retaliation complaints confirmed what he publicly stated in April.
“I did not, and do not retaliate against my employees. Furthermore, it would be ludicrous for me to retaliate against my employees for an incident I self- reported in a timely manner to the police commission before any complaint was filed against me,” he said.
Also on the commission agenda Friday were two discussion items regarding Raybuck’s retirement, which he announced to KPD employees Nov. 13. The commission said it decided to form two “permitted interaction groups to formulate recommendations” for consideration related to the hiring of a new police chief and an interim chief.
Friday’s statement from the Police Commission said Raybuck’s retirement announcement is unrelated to any settlement with the commission, and that there is no severance agreement tied to his decision to retire.
The statement said the panel would provide no further information at this time.
Raybuck said in his statement that previous complaints made against him “have been presented to the media prior to me being notified of the allegations and an investigation being completed. This practice has not afforded me due process and appears to be intended to create public shame and exert political pressure on me.”
While recognizing that public scrutiny is part of being a public official, Raybuck said, “it is unfair for my family to continue bearing the emotional burdens resulting from individuals with agendas attacking my reputation and making false claims against me. For this reason alone, I have decided to retire from law enforcement.”
He added that he was neither asked nor forced to retire, and did not announce his retirement “to escape any investigation or discipline.”
Raybuck, who was sworn in as Kauai police chief in 2019 after retiring from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, plans to retire next year but no date was given.
His tenure hasn’t been without controversy. Shortly after the firearm incident in March, Kauai County agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused him of discriminating against a captain for being Japanese American, including one instance when the chief squinted his eyes, bowed repeatedly and said he couldn’t trust Japanese people, according to an Associated Press report.
In the 2021 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu against KPD and Kauai County, Paul Applegate, who is part Japanese, alleged Raybuck mocked Asians on multiple occasions, the report said.
