In a report that was recently released detailing disciplinary action taken within the Honolulu Police Department, it was revealed that more officers were disciplined in the year 2020 than in the previous three years.
The report detailed reprimands, suspensions and firings for 56 officers having to do with 58 different cases last year. All this comes at a time when police departments around the country are under more scrutiny than ever for their treatment of the residents that they are sworn to protect and serve.
In about half of the cases, criminal investigations were opened up, though this does not mean that actual prosecution happened for all of those cases. Twenty of the officers involved in these cases ended up being fired with 10 of those officers appealing that decision. Upon further research of these cases, only a few seem to be high-profile cases that were reported in the news.
There is a law in Hawaii that requires police departments to report the names of officers that are fired for misconduct once the entire firing process is complete. Many of the names published have not been seen in the news at all in the past.
Particularly striking were reports of grievous abuse of power. In one case, a police officer ordered a man to lick a urinal. This officer was sentenced to four years in prison for his offense. There were several cases of officers being caught falsifying records, warranting several suspensions in response. Finally, many police officers were suspended or fired for being charged in domestic abuse cases.
Apart from the issues that were raised about police brutality in police departments around the country in 2020 resulting in riots over the summer, there appears to be a clear pattern of abuse and misconduct in the Honolulu Police Department, making for a very concerning situation.