Board to discuss complaints against chief, executive staff

Complaints now up to seven — four police officers and three civilian county employees

Seven employee complaints alleging a hostile workplace have been filed against Police Chief John Pelletier and several members of his executive staff, according to a police union official who described the situation as unprecedented and "troubling."

Sgt. Nick Krau, Maui chapter chairperson of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, said the union has been made aware of the seven formal complaints that include allegations of harassment in the workplace and gender discrimination.

Asked by The Maui News about the complaints, Krau said he couldn't discuss specifics of the complaints that were filed by four sworn law enforcement officers and three civilian county employees. Five of the complaints were brought by women and two by men, Krau said.

"It is my understanding that all seven of these complaints are being actively investigated," he said recently. "In addition to complaints being filed with the County of Maui Equal Employment Opportunity Services, we've been made aware that complaints were also filed with the State of Hawaii Civil Rights Commission Office, as well as the Hawaii U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission."

Pelletier, who was asked about hostile work environment complaints against him and Deputy Chief Charles Hank III at a news conference in June, said it was department policy not to respond to ongoing complaints.

The agenda for a special Maui Police Commission meeting Wednesday includes an anticipated executive session on legal advice from the Department of Corporation Counsel for reviewing pending complaints against the chief.

Pelletier, who was sworn in as chief Dec. 15, received overall negative ratings in 12 of 13 categories in a survey of Maui Police Department rank-and-file officers that was conducted April 12 to 22. SHOPO commissioned the survey that drew responses from 158 officers, representing 60 percent of union members.

Asked to rate the morale level at MPD on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, the average rating was 4.01 percent.

Of the officers responding, 33.95 percent said they were considering leaving MPD in the next two years, either by retiring, going to another agency or leaving the profession.

Departures would worsen a staffing shortage in the department that had 101 vacancies among its 400 authorized positions for police officers at the end of June.

So far this year, at least nine ranking officers have retired. They include two lieutenants and a sergeant who retired at the end of June, Krau said.

"These were SHOPO members and to my knowledge nothing was done by the department to try and retain these highly qualified and skilled supervisors," he said. "I was very surprised to hear about two of them retiring, as they did not sound ready to retire when I last spoke with them."

Asked if Pelletier wanted to respond, MPD spokeswoman Alana Pico said "retention issues are not exclusive to MPD."

One of three MPD assistant chiefs retired at the end of July, making him the fourth assistant chief to retire since December.

Krau said that based on his knowledge of the complaints filed by employees, "each complaint is based on specific actions taken by the chief or his executive staff -- or deliberate inaction -- that allegedly violated county policy or labor law or both."

"The morale issues, as we saw in our survey, affect the entire department," he said. "However, to have seven serious complaints filed in just a few months is unheard of and is troubling to everyone. No one wants to see a colleague harassed or treated poorly. We're all adults and professionals, and we expect to be treated that way."

At his news conference responding to the survey last month, Pelletier said "organizational change, it takes five to seven years."

"I didn't invent that or pull that out," he said. "That's from Harvard Business Review."

Pelletier was asked about information SHOPO received that potential police recruits were being allowed to take polygraph tests multiple times after failing and that the background check period for recruits had been shortened from 10 to two years.

"There was a proposal for that, but I denied the 10 years to two," he said. "And I have no knowledge whatsoever of someone ever on this agency failing a polygraph and coming back multiple times."

While Pelletier said he had addressed some of the issues raised in the survey, Krau said it had taken a month to have the chief set up regular meetings with SHOPO, which will be held quarterly.

"Given the severity of the morale issues expressed by our members, it's disheartening that the chief has not made addressing these issues a priority," Krau said. "Over 100 officers are looking at walking out the door in the next two years and we have over 100 current vacancies and no one is acting with a sense of urgency. The chief is essentially offering up to four hours of his time to work with the union over an entire 12 months. That is a fairly good indication of how much respect the chief has for how our members feel.

"I'm not sure what business leadership course tells you to ignore your frontline employees, but it definitely is not the Harvard Business School courses he's been touting."

Pico said Pelletier has improved communication with employees and asks staff "what's working, what's not working, and how can we improve." She said he is now conducting exit interviews and the department "is looking to promote soon."

She said the department is launching an updated recruiting program and working on implementing a three 12-hour shift schedule.

Pico said the department asked to have monthly meetings with SHOPO starting in July.

The issues of morale, understaffing and working conditions at MPD have drawn attention from outside the department.

Krau received a letter last month from an official at the Pierce County Sheriff's Department in Tacoma, Wash., which is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the state. The department is offering a $25,000 hiring incentive for lateral transfer applicants, who would receive a starting bank of 80 hours of vacation and 80 hours of sick leave and a starting salary based on years of current law enforcement experience, according to the letter.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.