A retired Hawaii Police Department assistant chief said Tuesday that a major in the running for police chief and a captain who answers directly to her shouldn’t have accepted four nights in a Kailua-Kona hotel paid for by the Ironman Triathlon.
James O’Connor was referring to Major Sherry Bird, who’s second in command of the Area II Field Operations Bureau in Kona, and Capt. Thomas Shopay, who commands West Hawaii’s Criminal Investigation Division.
“You know what? A major and a captain, they know better,” said O’Connor, who was the assistant chief overseeing the Area II Field Operations Bureau when he retired on Nov. 1, 2021. “And even if it’s offered to everybody in the police department, it’s still free. It’s a gratuity, it’s a gift. You don’t do it. You’ve got to decline it.
“It’s not like a free cup of coffee at 7-Eleven, although you shouldn’t accept that, either. We’re talking about five nights at a hotel. How much is that going to run?”
Bird is one of four finalists for police chief of Hawaii County. The issue of accepting the free room was brought up Tuesday during a special meeting of the Hawaii County Police Commission as it continues its search for the next top cop.
Commissioner Denby Toci said the commission was in possession of a $1,953 receipt from Marriott for a room for her paid for by the triathlon organization during the 2022 Ironman, which was held in early October in West Hawaii.
“Have you filed a gift disclosure with the Board of Ethics yet?” Toci asked during the meeting at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
Bird replied that she didn’t do a gift disclosure, saying she didn’t believe it was a gift because she was working as incident commander.
“Does receiving a comped room violate HPD’s General Order 300? If yes, why did you take the room? If no, why do you not think it violated the general order?”
Bird, who lives in Kona, said she needed to be there and used the room only to go to use bathroom and catch a couple of hours of sleep. She said the room didn’t influence her.
General Order 300 states: “Personnel shall not accept directly or indirectly any gifts, gratuities, loans, fees, rewards, or any other things of value arising from or offered because of police employment or activities connected with said employment.”
According to Deputy Corporation Counsel Cody Frenz, the commission’s lawyer, the commission also is in receipt of a bill from Marriott for a room for Shopay, but Shopay’s name wasn’t mentioned during the commission meeting.
HPD spokeswoman Denise Laitinen said in a text message that because of the international significance of the Ironman and the possibility of a “shooting, bombing, terrorist threat, etc.,” senior command of HPD and other law enforcement officials are provided rooms by the Ironman as “a matter of public safety, not a gift.”
“A gift is defined by Hawaii County Code as something ‘intended to influence the officer or employee in the performance of the officer’s or employee’s official duties or is intended as a reward for any official action on the officer’s or employee’s part,’” Laitinen said in the text.
“The availability of a room is not intended to influence an officer or employee’s performance of their official duties nor is it a reward for any official action on the officer or employee’s part.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.