Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann spoke out strongly Tuesday after two HPD police officers were arrested in Las Vegas over the weekend for possession of marijuana and other misdemeanors.The mayor told Khon2 he had already spoken to Police Chief Boisse Correa and Hannemann promised both officers would be disciplined harshly if the allegations are true.
"If it means suspension (or) if it means termination we will do that,” said the mayor, “but we have to give them their day in court to verify the allegations that have been made.”
Kevin Fujioka, 37, and Shayne Souza, 47 were arrested Saturday night at Desert Breeze Park a few miles outside the Las Vegas Strip when park officers noticed the van they were in was parked sideways.
Both HPD officers were at the popular park for a softball game as part of the 2009 Nevada Police & Fire Games.
Authorities say when Desert Breeze park officers approached the van Fujioka drove away in an effort to elude capture. After a brief foot chase Fujioka and Souza were arrested, however Souza had to be subdued with pepper spray.
Fujioka was also booked for driving under the influence of narcotics and Souza with resisting a police officer, obstruction of a police officer and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.
A third man, Scott Wilson, 38, was also inside the van. He was arrested for marijuana possession.
Under HPD policy Fujioka and Souza will likely face immediate urine testing once they report back to work. However police spokeswoman Michelle Yu could not say when the two officers were due back from their vacations.
According to toxicology expert Dr. Clifford Wong of Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii, marijuana can leave the system of a casual user fairly quickly.
“With a urine test for naive users (or) casual users, usually the rule of thumb is about three to five days,” said Wong.
That could play a critical role in HPD's internal investigation if Fujioka and Souza claim they did not actually smoke the marijuana found inside the van.
Dr. Wong says efforts to mask marijuana use, usually by drinking large amounts of water, can also be detected but not 100 percent of the time.
“We have cutoffs in our workplace drug testing in which even if we find something on our screen, if it's below that cutoff we have to report it as a negative.”
HPD’s random drug testing policy calls for any positive result to be forwarded to Internal Affairs and an Administrative Review Board.
“If the Administrative Review Board finds clear and convincing evidence that a violation has occurred, the Chief of Police may terminate the employee,” the policy states.
However even if Fujioka and Souza test negative for marijuana use, both men could still lose their jobs for conduct unbecoming an officer.
Fujioka faces a court date in Las Vegas of November 16. Souza is due in court October 15.
Andrew may be reached at ph. 368-7273.
