City settles officer’s
lawsuit for $650,000Kenneth Kamakana says he was
unfairly transferred after reporting
alleged misconduct to the FBI
The city will pay Honolulu police veteran Kenneth Kamakana $650,000 to settle his whistleblower lawsuit that claimed he was retaliated against after reporting alleged misconduct of fellow officers and superiors to the FBI.
The 29-year Honolulu Police Department veteran, involved in narcotics and organized-crime investigations for more than half of his career, filed the lawsuit in federal court in November 2000, alleging that he was unfairly transferred from the Criminal Intelligence Unit to the auto theft detail after talking to FBI agents. The suit listed the city, HPD, Chief Lee Donohue and Lt. Milton Olmos as defendants.
HPD, Donohue and Olmos were dismissed as defendants in June.
As part of the settlement, which will be paid by the city's insurance provider, Kamakana will not be allowed to return to his former unit.
He also had alleged that a subsequent Internal Affairs investigation into his removal of files from the unit was retaliation for his report to the FBI.
Kamakana admitted taking confidential files from the unit before he was transferred, which is considered an act of misconduct under HPD rules.
Kamakana is currently a supervisor assigned to a state and federal drug task force. His attorney, William McCorriston, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The city and police department have denied the allegations, and both said in statements yesterday that the settlement admits no wrongdoing.
"The decision to settle the case was an economic one, based in large measure on the litigation expenses the insurance company was paying to defend the lawsuit and prepare for trial," a city Corporation Counsel press release said.
Donohue echoed those comments in his statement.
"From the beginning of this case, I was concerned that any monetary settlement would give the wrong impression to the public and the public would incorrectly assume that the allegations made in the lawsuit were true," he said. "In fact, we wanted to defend ourselves against these allegations at the trial so that our side could be told."
Donohue and Olmos, who served as acting captain of the Criminal Intelligence Unit in 2000, have said that Kamakana was transferred because he wasn't a "team player." They said Kamakana's transfer wasn't retaliatory because neither Donohue nor Olmos knew he had spoken to federal agents when they made the decision to transfer him.
They also claimed that Kamakana was not harmed by the move, since he held the same rank and benefits.
In the suit, Kamakana had asked to be reinstated to his former position. He also sought lost overtime, which he estimated at between $3,200 and $6,000.
Among the incidents Kamakana reported to the FBI was a July 2000 taped interview between Olmos, other officers in the unit and a person indicted on federal gambling charges, according to the suit. The FBI had notified the department that such a meeting would be illegal, since the defendant had legal counsel.
After denying the interview took place and refusing requests by federal prosecutors for a copy of the tape, police turned over a redacted version, minus portions that some officers and Donohue felt would be damaging to them, Kamakana alleged.
Kamakana later provided the FBI with what he said was an original version.