Some Maui police officers giving body cameras a try ADVERTISING Some Maui police officers giving body cameras a try WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — Some Maui police officers are trying out body cameras. The Maui Police Department says it’s part of
Some Maui police officers giving body cameras a try
WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — Some Maui police officers are trying out body cameras.
The Maui Police Department says it’s part of a monthlong study that began Friday. Results of the study will help the department decide whether to implement the technology.
Various patrol officers are field testing a body-worn camera made by VIEVU. The department plans to also test two other vendors in the coming months.
MPD received grants totaling less than $200,000 to purchase a body-worn camera system.
A committee that includes officers and police researchers has been considering the cameras for some time.
Last year, some police officers tested body cameras after two vendors supplied the department with the technology for a trial run.
The Kauai Police Department last year was the first department in Hawaii to outfit its officers with body cameras.
Man accused of sexual assault on Maui heads to jail
WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — A high school senior’s essay about being sexually assaulted has landed her alleged 34-year-old attacker in jail four years after the incident on Maui took place.
Thomas Davidson was sentenced to 90 days in jail Wednesday after pleading no contest to a second-degree assault charge. Several other charges against him, including kidnapping, sexual assault and terroristic threatening, were dropped as part of his plea deal.
Davidson is accused of assaulting the then-15-year-old victim in 2012 in a parking lot and sending her nude pictures of himself after the incident.
Deputy Prosecutor Kim Whitworth said the victim, now 18, detailed the incident in a school essay, which teachers reported to police.
“It was something very private; something she thought would never be brought to the authorities,” Whitworth said. “She participated in the grand jury process, as painful as it was … and then started her life on another island and went to college. She did not want to return for a trial and did not want to endure that.”
Davidson maintained his innocence in court Wednesday, saying he’s “a good person” and has “done nothing but good things.”
“I didn’t do what’s being accused of me and that’s the God’s honest truth,” Davidson said.
His attorney, Philip Lowenthal, had argued for a sentence deferral, saying his client works for the Salvation Army in his spare time and is the only person in his family with a college education.
Judge Rhonda Loo, however, denied the request and handed down the jail time. She also ordered him to serve five years of probation, undergo a psychosexual evaluation and complete sex offender treatment.
“I’m pretty certain that based on your behavior and based on your comments that I’m hearing today that I am going to see you back in court,” she told Davidson.
