Mel Rapozo; Councilmember and Former Kauai Police Sgt. has decided to run for Mayor of Kauai.

The one man who could seriously clean up the corruption within the KPD and Mel Rapozo chooses to do nothing.  His knowledge of police corruption is as familiar to him as his own name.  After all, Mel is quoted as saying "Without the investigation, we'll deteriorate to the point where (KPD) won't function," said Councilman Mel Rapozo. "No one seems to care enough to do something."  
From News Article: Turmoil Grips Kauai police

 

Below are news stories of Mel Rapozo and the Kauai Police Department.  These facts should educate you into the past of one of Kauai's mayoral incumbents.

Who is Mel Rapozo?  According to his blog "Kauai Politics" (appropriately named) and other news sources:

He is a licensed Private Detective with the State of Hawaii, specializing in identity theft. He has a degree in Criminal Justice and worked for 12 years with the Kauai Police Department, until he was forced to resign amid allegations of fondling a stripper while she was in KPD custody. He currently own and operate M&P Legal Support Services, LLC, which is a private detective agency. Despite MeI Rapozos' tenure while on the Kauai Police Department whih cost the County of Kauai taxpayers in excess of $250,000.00 in connection with the "Lap Dance Kauai" Scandal, though enough people with similar views to Mels elected him as he is currently one of Kauai's seven County Councilmember's, where he serves as Vice-Chair.

Ask yourself this, "Would he want to expose other police of misconduct if his former conduct as a police Sgt. caused him to resign?

Do you really think he will investigate his "Brothers in Blue"?
 

It is obvious why several of my complaints against police were never sustained. 

  “When you talk to the officers, it's pretty bad. Every day that goes by without some intervention, it's getting worse.”  Mel Rapozo

 

---

Lap Dance Kauai:

Courtroom Audio transcripts from the Kauai Police Officer Randall Machado Trial:

1.  The first hour and 26 minutes of the trial.

2. The second half of the Macahad/Monica Alves trial.

3. State of Hawaii  Attorney Generals closing statement.

 

---

Sunday, November 4, 2001

 
PHOTO COLLAGE BY BRYANT FUKUTOMI / BFUKUTOMI@STARBULLETIN.COM
http://starbulletin.com/2001/11/04/editorial/special.html

Steeped in secrecy, charges of
racism and sexism plague the
Kauai Police Department

---

By Tony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.com

LIHUE >> Bubbling just below the surface of the strange case of Kauai Police Chief George Freitas are broader and persistent questions, always asked in hushed tones, about racism and sexism in the Kauai Police Department.

The racist question arises because, on an island where 37 percent of the labor force is Caucasian, only one white officer holds a rank above sergeant --- and that's Freitas. He has been suspended with pay since Aug. 10 as a consequence of a complaint filed by two senior KPD officers, Lt. Alvin Seto and Inspector Mel Morris. Neither Freitas nor the public have been apprised of the specific charges against him, if any.

Freitas, whose family is Portuguese, was born and raised on Oahu but spent most of his police career in Richmond, Calif., and is considered by some senior KPD officers to be an outsider. He was hired in 1995 to bring diversity to a police department that had been almost entirely male, Japanese-American and Hawaiian. He recruited more Filipinos and Caucasians as patrolmen but the department has only two officers of Chinese or Korean ancestry.

The ranks of the senior lieutenants and inspectors in the KPD are deeply divided over the investigation of Freitas. His supporters and critics appear to break along generational lines. The older lieutenants and inspectors who rose through the ranks before Freitas was hired are the most critical. Younger senior officers openly support Freitas.

As one insider said of the chief's critics: "They firmly believe in rewarding their friends and punishing their enemies." Their numbers are dwindling as they retire but many have resisted the reforms Freitas has attempted to make.

Similarly, the sexist issue arises because no woman has risen above the rank of sergeant when women comprise 46 percent of the island's labor force.

Only five of the KPD's 94 officers are women. Two episodes -- one involving a woman suspect and the other involving a woman KPD officer -- illustrate the attitude of some KPD officers toward women.

An exotic dancer named Monica Alves was arrested for alleged prostitution in 1995. Alves was forced to strip and was fondled and photographed in the nude in the Lihue Police Station. A sergeant and two patrolmen were fired and two more patrolmen resigned.

Arbitrators later ordered two of the fired officers rehired and the third was put back to work before the arbitrator issued a ruling.

 
STAR-BULLETIN / 1998
Monica Alves, awaiting a court appearance in 1998,
said she was stripped, fondled and photographed by
police after her arrest in 1995.

---

 

While the arbitrators said the patrolmen were wrong, they said the blame lies with supervisors in the KPD who created a climate in which a woman suspect was mistreated.

"It appears that activities at the Lihue Police Station were allowed to proceed without the type of control one would expect at a police station," Max Graham, a Lihue attorney, wrote in his findings. "It further appears that more senior officers knew or should have known that better control was warranted."

Alves later sued Kauai County and received a $250,000 settlement. In 1998, she and her husband, Mitchell Peralto, were convicted of the murder of Alves' niece, a drug informant for the KPD. Both are serving life sentences.

Then, in 1997, a female KPD officer, Lisa Fisher, resigned because of what she termed "a hostile work environment." In a lawsuit she filed the following year, she asserted that her supervisor in the Hanalei Substation, Sgt. Cecil Baliaris, had repeatedly made suggestive comments about her body and about his genitals, leading other male officers to do the same. Ultimately, Fisher alleged that Officer Michael Kiyabu grabbed her breasts in front of other officers.

When she filed a sexual harassment complaint with Freitas, she was taken off the road and given a desk job. The charges never were investigated, her lawsuit claims. Last year, Kauai County paid $425,000 to settle the case, the highest in county history. Fisher's Kauai-born Honolulu lawyer Richard Wilson said: "As far as I know, no one ever was disciplined in this case."

A lack of oversight that permits questionable racial and gender attitudes is compounded, Wilson asserted, by Kauai's detachment from the rest of Hawaii. "Kauai is 560 square miles of island located 100 miles from any outside authority," he said. "Kauai is very much the 'Separate Kingdom' it prides itself on having been historically, and its police force is the best example."

Mayor Maryanne Kusaka declined to be interviewed on these issues. Gary Hooser, chairman of the Kauai County Council's Public Safety Committee, said he has had discussions with the county personnel director about racism, sexism, nepotism and political favoritism in county hiring practices but has not specifically addressed the KPD.

Dede Wilhelm, chairwoman of the Kauai Police Commission, said: "There's nothing wrong with the racial mix. We've got a great bunch of cops." She goes to high schools to talk up a police career for young women, she said, "but the wahine don't sign up. It's not glamorous enough." As for the KPD having only two Chinese-American officers, she said, "The Chinese are smart. They go study medicine."

Wilhelm said a state law that prohibits police departments from recruiting on the mainland should be abolished because she has been approached by officers who would like to move to Kauai. "We're all Americans and Americans should be free to move and work wherever they want to," she said.

A recent incident underscores a widely held belief among locals and newcomers alike that, as Wilson put it: "As long as you're hooked up with the cops, you can do anything you want because there is no oversight of the KPD."

Elaine Schaefer, a white mainland transplant and former police sergeant in Oakland, Calif., was riding her horse on a north shore trail last May when three pitbulls attacked the horse. The woman was thrown and the horse plunged over a cliff and died.

A witness saw a local man carrying a rifle who had been hunting with the dogs. As the man ran past her, he said he wasn't going to take the blame for the attack. She provided an artist a description that was turned into a sketch published in The Garden Island newspaper. The KPD received numerous telephone calls, all naming the same individual. But the police didn't arrange for a lineup for the witness. Instead of reckless endangerment or criminal property damage, the police wrote it up as a leash law violation, a petty misdemeanor.

The detective assigned to the case, Lt. Glenn Morita, took three months to locate a driver's license picture of the suspect. The sole witness, who had since moved to the mainland for health reasons, was unable to identify the man's picture in a photo lineup she was sent in the mail. In September, Morita told the victim he had done all he could do. That same month, Morita was named "Officer of the Month" by the police commission.

A Kauai resident with an insider's view of the KPD whose Asian-American family has lived on Kauai for several generations said: "The minute the sketch of the suspect appeared in the newspaper, everyone on the north shore knew exactly who it was, but he hasn't been arrested and probably never will be. He's a local guy with very close ties to the Kauai Police Department. The victim is a haole from the mainland. That's how it is with the KPD. That's how it is on Kauai."

Responsibility for oversight of the KPD rests with the Kauai Police Commission, a group of seven citizens appointed by the mayor that meets monthly. The commission hires the police chief but the chief can be fired only for wrongdoing, which is not defined in the county charter. The largely ceremonial commission surprised many on Kauai when it voted on Aug. 10 to investigate Freitas.

The suspension letter that Freitas was given by Mayor Kusaka said he was being investigated for allegedly "hindering prosecution" of Officer Nelson Gabriel, who was indicted in 1999 on charges that he had sexually molested his stepdaughter. The letter also said he was accused of "improperly handling" another complaint against Nelson for allegedly sexually harassing a police dispatcher.

Gabriel went on trial in September in the molestation case but there was no indication that the prosecution had been hindered. His attorney presented a long history of Gabriels' stepdaughter making serious accusations against people involving events that never took place. The trial was before a judge rather than a jury and no verdict has been announced.

An interesting moment in the trial came when KPD detectives entered the courtroom and seated themselves behind Gabriel. It was an open but unspoken statement of support for both Gabriel and Freitas.

The criminal charges filed against Gabriel were based on a KPD investigation that took place under Freitas' supervision before he was suspended. Freitas said he is puzzled by the accusation he mishandled the case.

All of this begs the question of whether someone is searching for reasons for the commission to fire Freitas so that he can be replaced by one of the senior department insiders before Mayor Kusaka, who appointed all the commissioners, leaves office a little more than a year from now.

Shortly after Freitas was suspended, Acting Chief Willie Ihu promoted three sergeants to lieutenant, all evidently qualified -- and all of them male and none of them white. Ihu has given his three highest-ranking subordinates new titles, apparently without the approval of the police commission, the mayor or the county council. The former inspectors, including Morris, who filed the complaint against Freitas, are now called "assistant chiefs."

http://starbulletin.com/97/04/11/news/satnews.html

LIHUE -- As policeman Todd Tanaka waits for a duty assignment, some Kauai residents are feeling uneasy about having an officer who was fired for sexual misconduct back on the streets.

"It's an issue of trust," said Kapaa resident Anna Asquith. "If these guys are there to serve and protect, I think this sets a scary precedent."

Tanaka could not be reached for comment. A secretary at the Lihue Police Station Friday said Tanaka was "on vacation."

Police Chief George Freitas fired Tanaka, Randall Machado and Mel Rapozo last March after investigating a complaint from exotic dancer Monica Alves that she was fondled and photographed in suggestive poses while being held at the Lihue Police Station following her Sept. 16, 1995, prostitution arrest. Two other implicated officers resigned.

The three officers appealed their firing. An arbitrator April 4 ordered the department to reinstate Tanaka. Appeals by Machado - who last year was acquitted of sexual abuse in the case, but fined and sentenced to 30 days in jail for destroying evidence - and Rapozo are still pending.

Is Mel Rapozo going to run for Mayor?  Based on the above information, do you honestly think Kauai needs a Mayor like Mel Rapozo?

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/07/08/news/news01.txt
Posted: Monday, Jul 07, 2008 - 09:39:35 pm HST

Asing appointed interim mayor

Yukimura, Rapozo announce mayoral campaigns

by Nathan Eagle - THE GARDEN ISLAND

The Kaua‘i County Council yesterday unanimously appointed its chair and most senior member, Bill “Kaipo” Asing, to serve as mayor through Dec. 1, but the unprecedented session at the Historic County Building did not stop there.

By the end of the morning, council members JoAnn Yukimura and Mel Rapozo announced their intent to run for mayor in a special election this fall.

With Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho running for county prosecutor, there are now three incumbents not seeking re-election this November.

The legislative body’s sole task at the special meeting was to pick one of its seven members to serve as interim mayor as the county charter mandates in case of a vacancy in office.

Mayor Bryan Baptiste, 52, died June 22 at Wilcox Memorial Hospital after suffering cardiac arrest at his Wailua home where he was recovering from heart bypass surgery.

County officials allowed a two-week grieving period, which concluded with a ceremony attended by hundreds of residents on Sunday, before moving forward in the mayoral succession process.

Baptiste’s administrative aide, Gary Heu, has served as acting mayor since the unexpected death.

The County Clerk’s Office yesterday issued a proclamation for a special mayoral vacancy election. The special nonpartisan election will be held in conjunction with the county’s Sept. 20 primary election and, if a second election is necessary, during the general election on Nov. 4, a county news release states.

The term of office begins Dec. 1 and will be for the final two years left in Baptiste’s second term.

Asing will assume his new role as mayor for the next five months after he resigns from the council and takes the oath of office.

The council then has 30 days to select someone to fill the resulting vacancy. If this fails to happen, the charter says the interim mayor will pick someone.

In response to a question from Councilman Jay Furfaro on when this clock starts, Deputy County Attorney Harrison Kawate said the general rule is that the vacancy is created upon resignation.

The individual picked to serve as interim mayor remains a council member until resignation. The appointed person becomes mayor after being sworn into office, Kawate said.

Asing said he has no intention of resigning from his council post before tomorrow’s council meeting.

Two council members will be absent from that meeting because they will be attending the National Association of Counties annual conference in Kansas City, Mo.

Asing said he wants to be at the council meeting to ensure there is a quorum and business can be conducted.

The charter is silent on when, or if, the appointed interim mayor must resign from the council.

There is no “black and white answer,” Asing said, adding that the timetable will be evaluated with the administration and “what is best for the community.”

Council members encouraged him to act with haste.

“We’re all here with heavy hearts wishing this was something we didn’t have to do,” Councilman Ron Kouchi said before the nomination process. “I hope whoever is picked submits that letter of resignation quickly.”

Iseri-Carvalho urged the newly appointed interim mayor to resign from the council immediately after the meeting.

Asing, who has served on the council for 24 years, was the only member nominated to serve as interim mayor.

“We will all work together for the benefit of all the people of Kaua‘i and the state of Hawai‘i,” he said after the vote. “That is my promise.”

There will be no “major changes” or “shake-up” in the administration, Asing said after the meeting. “I want people to feel comfortable. Everything that is in place will remain in place.”

As interim mayor, he said he has no plans to propose new initiatives. He said the load on the council’s plate is already “enormous,” noting pending legislation concerning gated communities, real property tax reform and agricultural subdivisions.

It is “not right and not fair” that the council should be faced with tough issues politically during an election year.

“If you want good, solid decision-making, you won’t get it in this period of time,” he said, noting how council members are unafraid to take stands and ask tough questions during non-election years.

Heu, who said he currently has no intention of running for mayor, called Asing a “practical guy.”

Heu worked for Asing for a few years at a phone company in the early 1980s. Asing later worked under Heu for a few years as a contractor for the same company after he retired.

The relationship was “pretty open,” Heu said.

Yukimura announced her intent to run for mayor in the special election at the beginning of the meeting.

She said it would be “inappropriate” to be appointed interim mayor because that person would have an unfair advantage in the race and would be unable to focus their attention on managing the county while running a campaign.

Yukimura, who was mayor during Hurricane ‘Iniki, said she supported Asing for interim mayor with the understanding that he would not be running in the special election.

“The public and everyone needs to know your intention,” she said.

But she backed down from her stance after receiving sharp criticism from other council members.

Iseri-Carvalho called Yukimura’s question “self-serving and unjust” and said the council should pick the member most qualified to serve as mayor regardless of future political aspirations.

“It’s almost like my integrity is at stake,” Asing said.

Knowing he was a front-runner for the interim mayor appointment and could seek election to that job in November, Asing said he still decided to file his nomination papers on July 1 to run one last time for a council seat.

“I feel if I got elected I would have served the community well and that was my goal,” he said. “I’m going to leave it there. You make your judgment or interpretation. I feel that is fair and that is just and I feel a little uneasy that I was put in that position of making that kind of statement to all of you here on the table and all of you in the community.”

Yukimura offered her apologies to Asing, the council and the public.

“I was trying to show that we need to follow certain guidelines and it was never my intention to call into question your integrity,” she told the chair. “And it was never my intention to try to stop you from running for any office that you desire.”

There was no discussion during the meeting on filling Asing’s council seat.

But in an interview with reporters afterward, Rapozo said Daryl Kaneshiro, a former council member who nearly won another term last election, would be an appropriate person to fill the vacancy.

Kaneshiro could not be reached for comment at press time.

There is a learning curve to serving on the council, Rapozo said, so it would make sense to have the interim member be someone with previous experience.

Rapozo, who had planned on running for mayor in 2010, said Baptiste’s death fast-forwarded his game plan.

He pulled papers after the meeting and said he will open up his campaign headquarters in Lihu‘e by the end of the month.

“I’m running in this mayor’s race to win,” said Rapozo, 43, of Lihu‘e.

Yukimura will be holding a press conference at noon, today, in the Council Chambers of the Historic County Building.

In the mayoral vacancy special election, if any candidate does not receive a majority of votes cast in the primary election, then the names of the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be placed on the ballot for the general election.

Nomination papers will be available and may be filed until 4:30 p.m., July 22. Because this is a special election to fill a vacancy, no signatures are required on nomination papers for candidates filing to run for this office, the release states.

Since qualified applicants will be deemed candidates once nomination papers are signed and certified, all state campaign spending and state Office of Elections candidate filing requirements must be met and all fees must be paid at the time of filing.

There have been no other formal announcements by residents interested in running for mayor, but Rapozo said it was likely that county Parks and Recreation Department Director Bernard Carvalho, Baptiste’s former campaign manager, would soon enter the race.

Carvalho did not return a call seeking comment by press time.

As of yesterday, 14 candidates have pulled nomination papers to run for council. Of those, eight have filed with the Elections Division. The two-step process is required for anyone seeking an elected position.

Kaua‘i Eco-Roundtable, a diverse group of grassroots organizations, is planning to hold a candidates forum at 5:30 p.m., Aug. 5, at the War Memorial Convention Hall.

For more information, call the Elections Division at 241-6350 or visit www.kauai.gov.

Turmoil grips Kauai police

Low morale and divisiveness prompt an unprecedented Council inquiry

LIHUE » The Kauai County Council is investigating the Garden Isle's police department, Chief K.C. Lum, and the Kauai Police Commission, in an unprecedented move that Lum supporters call politically motivated retaliation.

The council voted unanimously Thursday to authorize the investigation, citing low morale, numerous civilian complaints, possible lawsuits, budget problems and more. It is the first time the council has used their investigative powers, which are allowed under the Kauai County Charter.

According to the council's resolution, the investigation would also delve into personnel matters, specifically as they involve federal funding.

Council members and the chairman of the police union testified that Lum is to blame for horrible morale, an increase in civilian complaints and union grievances, as well as a budget overrun of more than $300,000 last year. They criticized the police commission for a lack of oversight of the chief and for poor response to civilian complaints and grievances.

The investigation is something the chief and the commission have refused to do, despite repeated requests and funding for an appraisal, they said.

Lum would not comment on the council's action.

Sources inside the department who support the chief said the problems within KPD boil down to a power struggle between Lum and Assistant Chief Clayton Arinaga, who was put on administrative leave last week.

Lum supporters, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said Arinaga, as well as other ranking officers within the department and councilmembers, have done everything in their power to make the chief look bad and to circumvent his power since Lum became chief in October 2004.

The reasons for Arinaga's suspension have not been made public, but in response to questions about it, Lum put out a press release stating that "the department will not tolerate misconduct by our department employees, and will take appropriate action when warranted."

"This investigation is for an incident that happened five years ago," Asing said. "Is it, maybe, retaliation?"

Lum supporters counter that the council investigation is retaliation for the suspension of Arinaga.

The polarization between supporters of Lum and Arinaga is so complete that officers are beginning to fear for their own safety from each other, councilmembers said.

"Officers in blue are more afraid of other officers in blue than the ice addict in the street," said Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho. "It jeopardizes ... the community as well."

Bryson Ponce, chairman of the Kauai branch of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, told the council, "I could fill the room with 90 cops that are unhappy.

"Over the past year, I've seen morale drop to rock bottom."

Ponce said the police commission, a volunteer board created to provide direct oversight to the chief and investigate civilian complaints, "is a joke. There are problems and they know it."

The union has repeatedly brought up grievances to the commission, only to be ignored, Ponce continued.

"We fully support this investigation into the police department," Ponce said, adding that Lum and the commission "haven't been acting with the best interests of our membership."

Police Commission Chairman Michael Ching refused to comment.

Councilmembers also discussed their frustration with being ignored by both the commission and the chief. They said they have repeatedly asked for information from the chief, only to be ignored.

"Without the investigation, we'll deteriorate to the point where (KPD) won't function," said Councilman Mel Rapozo. "No one seems to care enough to do something."