CORRECTION: A previous version of this story had an incorrect number of nights of the hotel stay. The Tribune-Herald regrets the error.
Hawaii Police Department Maj. Sherry Bird was grilled Tuesday morning by the county’s Police Commission over a four-night stay in a Kona hotel paid for by the Ironman Triathlon.
Bird, one of four finalists to succeed Paul Ferreira, who retired as HPD chief on Aug. 31, was informed by Commissioner Denby Toci that the commission was in possession of a receipt from Marriott for $1,953 for a room 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 today during a special meeting of the commission in Kona.
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 the 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 also was in receipt of a bill for a hotel room for Capt. Thomas Shopay, the commander of the Area II Criminal Investigation Division in Kona, but Shopay’s name wasn’t brought up during the commission meeting.
The Tribune-Herald has reached out to Shopay, who hadn’t responded as of 3 p.m.
The commission will hold its monthly meeting at 9 a.m. Friday at the County Council room in Hilo, with further consideration of the chief candidates on the agenda.
The other three finalists to become Hawaii County’s top cop are: Maj. Benjamin Moszkowicz of the Honolulu Police Department; Capt. Paul Applegate of the Kauai Police Department; and retired FBI agent Edward Ignacio.
This is a developing story. See Wednesday’s Tribune-Herald for more.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.