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Big Isle officer
says complaint against
chief led to retaliation

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

WAIMEA, Hawaii -- A Big Island police officer says the Police Department retaliated against him for filing a complaint against Chief Wayne Carvalho.

Officer Tanny Cazimero says he was suspended for seven days for turning in speeding tickets late. He says he knows other officers who turned in tickets late who were not suspended.

Cazimero earlier filed a complaint with the county Police Commission saying alleged cheating on promotions by Carvalho violated an order against officers bringing "disrepute" on the department.

In December, Carvalho lost a lawsuit in which 19 officers accused him and others of rigging promotions in the 1980s when he was deputy chief. Carvalho testified that then-Chief Guy Paul, not himself, controlled promotions.

Several officers who filed that suit testified Carvalho retaliated against them for filing it.

Cazimero says his current suspension is "absolutely" retaliation for filing the complaint against Carvalho.

He said in writing tickets a dispatcher or other officer will sometimes give him an incorrect date when court is in session in his district. The court then returns the tickets, and Cazimero has to find the violators, who are sometimes from out of state and other times are residents without a phone, to inform them of the new date.

Earlier this year Cazimero was suspended five days after he gave a police major a ticket for an expired safety inspection.

Cazimero confirmed he had other suspensions years ago but said his lawyer advised him not to discuss them.

Chief Carvalho declined to comment on Cazimero's suspension, saying the union contract and state law prohibit him from releasing personnel information.