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No one can speak for anyone else. I trust them. I work with them. When I am wrong they PROVE to me why. But to make the blanket statement that they are all corrupt is not going to help. When this is all said and done and time goes on, I hope that change will come. But it won't come if the locals refuse to meet with the PD to discuss your issues. I know...because I see the press releases that they do have town meetings for different regions from time to time. Someone locally has to be open minded enough to reach out to them. I know Mitch Roth will listen and so will the Chief of Police. But slamming them on these posts and on the streets wont fix the problem. Soon the Royal's and Johnson's will go away. You will have to make your region one of cooperation or mistrust. Not us. I hope you get together and begin to somehow work a way to communicate with the authorities. I know a lot of them. They are good people. But it works both ways. You trashing them wont make your cause any easier to deal with. Reach out. Let the past be the past. Focus on making a better future. My daughter was murdered. I can't change that. But I will be damned if I won't work with the only folks who can solve it and prosecute the killer if he is still alive!
ted royal
ted royal
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Since when did I claim to speak of any majority, banana or lolo? I'm just giving an idea of the general consensus of people I've met in Lower Puna, period. Not particularly friends or family, but anyone in general.
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quote:
Originally posted by Punatickz
It's more of a "uhhhh ok I better not stick my nose in this business unless I wanna end up in a puka or in the ocean" sort of mentality, or fearful.
Also when some of us locals read that police started cooperating after you threatened a law suit and/or threatened to bring in outside authorities, that pretty much makes sense to us and doesn't surprise locals at all really.
I REALLY didn't want to inject myself in the speculation of this thread, out of respect for the families and my current lack of presence in the Puna community. This stuff is not my business, and since I cannot help, I don't want to just be a speculative lookie-loo. But there's a common thread of truth here that I feel compelled to speak to that is larger than just this murder case.
When we first moved to Hilo several years ago, I was telling a kama'aina friend about my coworker who was sexually assaulted when hitchhiking in Puna. He told me all about "vigilante justice, BI style" and the words "end up in a puka" were used. His point was that generally folks won't call the cops, they will just take matters into their own hands...his words were something like, "you mess with a local girl, her brothers will put you in a puka. You'd just disappear." Maybe not entirely relevant here, but for what it's worth, it's not an uncommon sentiment. Idle threats or an undercurrent of truth? Blood is thicker than water. Extensive family ties can be a real motivator.
My other thought is this:
Police corruption on the BI is real. More real than I have ever seen in the many other communities I have lived in on the mainland. My comparison is drawn from living on both the West Coast and in the Southeast. There are bad seeds everywhere, but I heard soooo many stories about cops looking the other way, or conversely, fully supporting questionable vigilante justice by undeputized citizens.
One (of many) cases in point: some friends of ours were camping Kona-side. They were UH Hilo kids. There were some guys fishing nearby their campsite who got rowdier and drunker as the night went on. One of the guys (there were 2 guys, 3 girls camping together) said he was going to go ask them to keep it down so they could sleep, and everyone BEGGED him not to say anything for fear of repercussion....no matter who you are dealing with, belligerent drunks are not the people to try to have a rational conversation with. Anyway, this guy went ahead to go talk to the fishermen. Everyone else is holding their breath in the tent, waiting for him to get his butt kicked. Turns out he just went to talk story with these guys, see if they were catching anything, had a beer with them. He eventually went back to the tent and told everyone it was cool, he decided not to say anything, but was going to hang out and talk story some more since he wasn't going to get any sleep. He said later that out of nowhere, things hit the fan - one of the guys up and punched him - a brawl broke out where these men just jumped him. As he was scrambling back to the tent site, the college kids are all tumbling out of their tents. The other young man got attacked and started getting beat up as well, and both guys started yelling at the girls to jump in the car and go get help. They managed to get in and start the car, but as they were backing out, one of the drunks picked up a huge rock and threw it right through the windshield. Glass everywhere, girls cut up. The 2 younger guys managed to get in as they were driving away, and they made it to a nearby house. Called the police. Family helped them out, cleaned them up as they waited (and waited - hours for the cops to show up - and we're not talking isolated beach, they were somewhere easily accessible, can't remember exactly where). When the police FINALLY arrived, they asked the kids to go back with them to the campsite to show them what happened. The fishermen were still there at the campsite. The kids immediately ID'd them - one of the guys was wearing one of the Hilo kid's shoes! - but the cops were skeptical. Took down the fisherman's information, looked at their IDs, and that WAS IT. The fishermen denied that they had seen the kids before (even though all of their stuff was there, glass on the ground from the car, etc). Cops took the fishermen at their word, or just didn't care to get involved. Some of these kids needed hospital care - concussions, stitches, pretty beat up. The first kid that spoke to them fared the worst and needed PT for months after. There was never any follow up from the police. They, and their families, kept calling the PD for follow up, for months, and finally gave up. No line up, no IDs, nothing.
Shameful.
My husband also witnessed a dainty female cop ask a big local guy to "take down" an uppity New York tourist (in a traffic dispute where the tourist was driving like a total asshole in Ka'u) - maybe this sort of citizen's arrest is normal? - even though we were glad this man got his just desserts, it was kind of disturbing to see.
Please note: I am not sharing any of this to incite some sort of locals vs haoles nonsense. Things just work much, much differently on the BI, and these are just a few examples of why. It ain't the "USA".
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Does anyone know Nahko, the lead singer for Medicine For the People? I was with Nahko and 2 of our other friends at Hookena one night. We were minding our own business, drinking a few brews and playing music. All of a sudden we noticed a group of locals yelling the word "haole", which is definitely a sign to start packing your stuff and leave. As we were trying to pull out of the park, the locals chased us in the parking lot and caught up to the truck. They beat up Nahko, then grabbed his guitar and started beating our young female friend in the face and skull! We had done absolutely nothing wrong! We filed a report but they didn't even go to Hookena to check it out, saying whoever did it was probably gone and would eventually get caught (yeah right, wtf?) Then on another night, me and a friend was going to Kealekekua Bay and a group of drunk locals tried to stop our car in the middle of the road, and threw a rock on top of our car. My friend was a born and raised local boy, but he is easily mistaken as haole because he is hapa. He was pissed and thought about getting out the car and taking them on. I grabbed him and told him "bra you get out this car, they're gonna kill you and you know that". He gave it a sober thought and pressed the gas pedal and we got out of there. We didn't report it because we knew it was useless. They cleaned up Kealekekua lately, as it was getting almost as bad as Lower Puna for a while. Reporting it to cops is a total joke as nothing is ever done about it. Only reason the cops cleaned up Kealekekua is because the owners of all those vacation rentals were getting mad about the area gaining a bad reputation, not because people got beat up there a lot.
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If certain people (plural, not just one) on this forum are not familiar with police corruption on our island, allow me to entertain you for a few minutes:
Lower Puna is so bad, cops used to avoid the place like the plague. Locals that have lived here a loooooong time will tell you cops only really started going and responding to calls in lower puna about twenty years ago. I'm not saying they didn't respond to ALL calls, but you get my drift: unless it was a huge emergency, forget it!
Same thing with Ocean View on the other side, it's been cleaned up a lot in the past 10 years but most cops wouldn't go up the mountain past PK street, the first street! And for a long time, the only cop that would respond (if you were lucky) was so corrupt that everybody in Ocean View was scared of him. I remember when that very cop got busted by two tourists that drove down the highway and witnessed him sexually assaulting those young girls on the side of the road, and that got hushed up real fast because it would have ruined the real estate bubble that was happening there. Turned out the girls had drugs on them and he asked sexual favors in order not to arrest them and inform their parents. You can't find a link on that one, but ask 99.9999 percent of long-time Ocean view residents.
Then, on an entirely different occasion, the SAME officer tried to run another woman off the side of the road with his police vehicle and tried to kill her because she had reported being repeatedly raped by the same officer! The 911 calls to dispatch were intentionally ignored, according to the courts! But this woman wouldnt back down and kept fighting and finally officials actually had to act because of public pressure. And how do they act? Hah! They quietly suspended him (with pay!) long enough to cover it up, and later decided to promote him (go figure...) and we do have links on that:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/02...tory6.html
Also, what about the cop that was a SEARGENT over in Puna? He beat his wife half to death, and then when she tried to escape by jumping out of his van, he ran her over and tried killing her. Then he tied her body up with yellow rope, perhaps because she was still barely alive, and then threw her dead body in the back of his van! His HPD police buddies tried to cover it up and they let him get away with it for a long time, until the local community got completely outraged and forced authorities to give the case REAL investivation. He now sits in prison for 90 years:
http://damontucker.com/2008/12/03/mathison/
It's so bad that the police even did a huge survey SPECIFCALLY concerning local trust in police, doing it to address all the police corruption. It was a total joke around the island and it totally backfired in their face. In 2010 nearly half the residents viewed local police negatively when investigating a crime in their local community, and nearly 1/3rd of the island said they would not feel comfortable reporting a crime to police. Furthermore, those numbers are island wide! If they did that survey in Puna only, holy crap, it would have been an even bigger disaster, probably about 70-80% negative response instead of 30-40%.
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesM...ndows.aspx
Oh and you want to reveal this corruption to the FBI? Hah! Good luck! Even other cops have tried reporting police corruption to FBI, and even filing lawsuits against their own bosses and testifying to HIGH LEVEL corruption specifically in the criminal investigative units, but they get demoted for not being, and I quote, "team players"
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/articl...ln02a.html
Oh also, while on the subject of cops suing cops, Hilo Police has quite the story. When it comes to upper level corruption, maybe the families would be interested to know how "certain" officers get placed in "certain" positions to assist in even more corruption:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/10...tory2.html
Its so corrupt here that according to the State Integrity Investigation done by a non-biased panel, they determined to give Hawaii police D and F grades according to the Corruption Risk Report Card:
http://www.aroundhawaii.com/community/fe...waii-.html
I could go on, and on, and on...and I encourage both families to read/ask about local corruption here.
Fact is, doesn't matter if you are in Kalapana (Lower Puna), Ocean View (lower Kau), or Milolii Bay (South Kona) it's all about territory and money, especially if your coming to the rock as a new haole. There's certain rules you better learn real fast. And certain cops in certain areas aren't likely to do anything serious unless they are pressured too, as they have a lot of proven corruption among their ranks, and a loooong and solid history of proven public mistrust.
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No police sketch was done. They didn't even accept my statement, and glanced at the affidavit my parents tried to give them (in person). Never tried I give them the texts, me and Sarah just recently remembered I had texted her about it. And there is no need for a sketch. Everyone knew who the guy was, just had to ask. Our neighbors witnessed the scene, too. And we saw him drive by the house many times, as well as saw him sitting at the entrance to Uncle Robert's bar just about every night. He's kind of hard to miss, and it's impossible to mistake him for anyone else. His physique is unique.
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somewhat bizarre this posting in the Big Island Chronicle back in October:
greg owen on October 10, 2013 at 11:58 am
No act BB,the cops are doing their job……the murderer could be hanging from a tree in the jungle by a clothesline rope-self inflicted-whoever he is…and if kalapana ed elrath is to be believed he talked with b.johnson the day after her body was found…keep this in mind….
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quote:
Originally posted by kohaladiver808
somewhat bizarre this posting in the Big Island Chronicle back in October:
greg owen on October 10, 2013 at 11:58 am
No act BB,the cops are doing their job……the murderer could be hanging from a tree in the jungle by a clothesline rope-self inflicted-whoever he is…and if kalapana ed elrath is to be believed he talked with b.johnson the day after her body was found…keep this in mind….
Whoaaaaaaaaaaa! Can you give us the link to the comments? Amazing find, wow. But in all honesty, a lot of us locals figured the boy was in the ocean, in a puka, or strung up in a tree...that's the 3 ways a lot of murders go down on the island. But that level of details in the comment is pretty interesting.
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www.bigislandchronicle.com/.../letters-br...
not sure that's it exactly... yes, I've lived here most of my life and am quite familiar with the tactics of disposal here. I've followed this story from the morning I heard the news. it bothers me beyond description for a variety of reasons. just beyond sickening, all of it. could very well be a coincidence, but seems very odd that this persons comment could be so accurate 3 months ago..
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It seems like a majority of people local and non-local, mostly agree, not all is well in Puna. It is possible that right now, through this tragedy, that a change can take place. It will take the locals, the Royals, the Johnson's, local and national media. It will take courage and sacrifices. The alternative is things go back to status quo. The situation in Puna has been played out all over the planet, over the span of history. Tyrants, mafia, gangs, thugs, drug dealers, human trafficking, extortion, corruption. Some of it to a lesser degree and some to greater degree; Puna is where it is and only the locals truly know to what degree. Good people can overcome the oppression, but it usually takes some event as a catalyst to begin the process.
Good people of Puna this is your opportunity for a new beginning, to become free of tyrants and corruption. If you act. Everyone is holding a piece of the same puzzle. But you have to start putting it together, sharing your piece to complete the puzzle. The search for truth of any given situation usually has a beginning. So let's start with Brittany who was already living in Puna before Bo got there on vacation in January.
I know she had a boyfriend Lief, and had some involvement at Uncle Roberts selling local produce and perhaps was involved with the local music scene. Who else were her friends? Who was she before she met Bo in Puna? What did she do, how did she survive? I know Bo felt Brittany and a few other women were in trouble (involved in unhealthy activities) when he met her. One of the reasons he wanted her to come to Alaska with him. I know when he first met her he wanted to help her. Is there anyone willing to bring their piece to this puzzle? Anyone who knew Brittany in Puna before Bo. Anyone that knows when she arrived in Puna?
There are those who say they want to get to the truth. Well let's start at the beginning. Are you serious or just creating sound bites? The truth will come out eventually. There are now, just to many interested and dedicated individuals needing to know the truth and they will not go away. So decisions need to be made about getting serious. People have facts and knowledge and that is more useful than theories or speculation or mud slinging.
Brittany's involvement before Bo could just be the first piece of the puzzle that could point to a motive for someone to have wanted to murder Brittany and Bo. The police are only looking to Bo as a suspect. Interestingly, they haven't asked for the Marshall's or FBI offices to include him on their most wanted lists in Hawaii, Alaska or anywhere else he might have fled to. A fact that can be verified by searching their websites under wanted persons. So the Hilo police aren't looking to hard for him.
It has been mentioned in previous posts that perhaps the baby wasn't Bo's and that's why he killed Brittany, because he found out. Well maybe someone else, a local, found out and knew that baby was their's and not Bo's. And now Bo was trying to buy property and start lava tours and he was also going to raise this part-native baby with his Haloe wife in Puna. That would certainly enrage someone who hates Haloes enough to put them over the edge to do such a heinous crime. That's all for now. Are you willing to bring your piece of the puzzle and help solve this mystery? Are you willing to change the status quo and create a new reality in Puna? Are you willing to Say Aloha and stand behind it's meaning and intent without hypocrisy?
quote:
Originally posted by Punatickz
Lower Puna is so bad, cops used to the place like the plague. Locals that have lived here a loooooong time will tell you cops only really started going and responding to calls in lower puna about twenty years ago. Same thing with Ocean View on the other side, it's been cleaned up a lot in the past 10 years but most cops wouldn't go up the mountain past PK street. And for a long time, the only cop that would respond (if you were lucky) was so corrupt that everybody in Ocean View was scared of him. I remember when he got busted by a tourist sexually assaulting those young girls on the side of the road, and that got hushed up real fast because it would have ruined the real estate bubble that was happening there. Then he ran a woman off the side
of the road and tried to kill her because she had reported being repeatedly raped by Te same officer! The 911 calls to dispatch were intentionally ignored! But this woman wouldnt back down and kept fighting and finally officials actually had to act because of public pressure. They quietly suspended him long enough to cover it up, and later decided to promote him, go figure:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/02...tory6.html
Also, what about the cop over in Puna that ran over his wife and tied her up with the yellow rope? It was the local pressure that got that case the attention it deserved:
http://damontucker.com/2008/12/03/mathison/
It's so bad that the police even did a huge survey about local trust in police, and only 32 percent view local police positively, and nearly 1/3rd of the island said they would not feel comfortable reporting to police:
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesM...ndows.aspx
I could go on, and on, and on...and I encourage both families to read/ask about local corruption here.
Fact is, doesn't matter if you are in Kalapana (Lower Puna), Ocean View (lower Kau), or Milolii Bay (South Kona) it's all about territory and money, especially if your coming to the rock as a new haole. There's certain rules you better learn real fast. And certain cops in certain areas aren't likely to do anything serious unless they are pressured too, as they have a lot of proven corruption among their ranks, and loooong and solid history of public mistrust.
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