2008-04-07_Bill 270_Ordinance_re_Office_of_Police_Oversight

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Honorable Brenda Ford April 7, 2008 Page 6 Investigation was able to show that the officers conducted a thorough and complete investigation. ARB did not sustain complaint. Based on the foregoing, the case was closed by the Police Department, and no discipline was meted out to the officer. On April 4, 2008, checks were made with the FBI Corruption Unit to determine the status of any complaint made to them concerning this police officer. According to the FBI, they have no record of any complaint on file dating back to that time. FBI representatives indicated that had there been such a complaint filed, they would have sought information and documentation from our Police Department, but there is no record of any contact from the FBI concerning this officer. During the first reading of this bill, Councilman Jacobson also referenced Silva v. County of Hawaii, et. al., the case involving the "rigged promotions" at our Police Department, involving a former police administration. No doubt this case represented a very dark and unfortunate chapter in the history of our County and police department. To succinctly summarize the salient facts of this case, former Police Chief Guy Paul is alleged to have indicated to his administrative subordinates those police officers in the department he wanted promoted. Former Deputy Chief (and Police Chief) Wayne Carvalho and former Deputy Chief Francis Demorales are alleged to have facilitated this by providing the answer to interview questions to those officers Chief Paul sought to promote. The promotion of police officers, as with all other government departments, is an administrative matter within the jurisdiction of the employer. It has nothing to do with the system of rules and regulations relating to public complaints against police officers. In sum, our office cannot understand how the existence of an Office of Police Oversight and Complaints would have prevented the nefarious actions of these former police officials. Even if adopted as proposed, Bill 270 could not effectively prevent the commission of the acts committed by the responsible police administrators in the "rigged promotions" scandal, as the actions of the police administrators would have gone undetected.2 Again, it is the opinion of our office that the Council should first determine whether there is in fact a systemic problem of police corruption in our Police Department. As stated above, given the very nature of police work, there will be persons who bring complaints against police officer due to the fact most interaction with police officers tend to be less than pleasurable. In fact, a significant number of citizen complaints brought against police officers before the 2 We note that this case, the scandal would not have been discovered and litigated but for the courageous actions of former Police Captain William Perreira,who came forward with compelling testimonial and documentary evidence of the rigged promotions.