Ex-chief says others
By Rod Thompson
rigged promotions
Star-BulletinHILO -- Former Big Island Police Chief Guy A. Paul says he stopped the cheating on promotions in the Police Department, contrary to claims that he started the cheating.
Referring to a board which recommended promotion of an officer who Paul thought was unqualified, Paul testified yesterday, "They were obviously hijacking the promotion. They had to be stopped."
Paul was testifying in a case in which 21 officers have sued current Police Chief Wayne Carvalho and retired Deputy Chief Francis DeMorales, primarily for events in 1984-1988, when Carvalho was Paul's deputy and DeMorales was an inspector.
Carvalho and DeMorales, in turn, sued Paul.
The 21 officers accuse DeMorales and Carvalho of rigging promotions. DeMorales and Carvalho accuse Paul of engineering the rigging.
Paul's attorney Brian DeLima said Paul had no need to rig anything, since he retained control of the promotion process by law.
The promotion of Henry Silva to major illustrates the accusations and counterclaims.
Paul said DeMorales once told him he was going to "get" Silva. The testimony wasn't clear as to why.
Sometime later, DeMorales served as chairman of an advisory promotion board that scored John De Sa higher for a major's post than Silva.
Paul said he was shocked. "I said De Sa did not deserve the job. Henry Silva was doing an excellent job.
"What they were doing was obviously improper. It's the job of the chief to make sure any impropriety is corrected," he said.
After Paul commented to them, the members of the board lowered De Sa's score and raised Silva's, DeMorales testified last week. Silva got the job.
Silva, who benefitted from the changed score, is one of the officers and ex-officers bringing the suit.
De Sa, who lost the job, is not suing. He later became chief for a brief period.
