IF I LISTEN LONG ENOUGH TO YOU

IF I LISTEN LONG ENOUGH TO YOU: A couple of decades ago Chryslers were the laughing stock of the car industry with people swearing off ownership and sales and stock prices plummeting.

That was followed by Lee Iacocca’s introduction of infamous “K car” and ads claiming that this year’s Chryslers had a “100% increase in quality”, causing us to wonder how you’d feel if you’d just bought last year’s model.

And recently Domino’s admitted that their pizza used to taste like cardboard and claims that now it didn’t.

Chrysler remains in third place and no one is rushing out to buy a pizza whose biggest selling point is that it doesn’t taste like cardboard anymore.

But the old adage that “saying it doesn’t make it so” was never more appropriate than when applied to the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD).

Despite the ubiquitous claims that, under new KPD Chief Darryl Perry, there’s been a 100% increase in quality of services we’re left with a distinctly nasty taste in our mouths over the foul tasting crap we’re being fed today in the local newspaper, coming out of the Investigative Services Bureau regarding the recent murder of Amber Jackson and connection to the alleged “west side serial killer”.

Despite the fact that women on this island are terrorized to go out alone and rumors fly like UFOs it seems that all they can say is “trust us we know what we’re doing”.

The question is how can you trust them when all they will say is:

“There is no circumstantial or physical evidence, testimony or suggestion or even suspicion that a connection (between the Jackson and west side murders) exists,” police officials said in an e-mail response to several recent questions. “To further expand would reveal intimate details of both cases that cannot be disclosed. If we did we would jeopardize the investigations.”

Compounding the problem of trusting they are competent to do their jobs is the revelation that Jackson’s nephew says that he “found out via a KPD e-mail that DNA evidence was sent out for analysis some two months after the discovery of Jackson’s dead body.”

The Keystone Kops nature of the “old” KPD was well established in the book KPD Blue (see left rail) which includes a chapter on the west side serial killer. And, as we reported, according to the mayor’s Administrative Assistant, the suspect in those cases was reported to be on the island.

Yet despite the fact that according to our records many thousands of people on Kaua`i read our news article last month on the matter, still no mention of suspect Waldorf “Wally” Wilson’s whereabouts by either KPD or the local newspaper.

Rather than give us some details and evidence that he isn’t here the chief only gave an interview to journalist Joan Conrow claiming that Wilson was never here and, again, he wanted us to “trust him”.

Now despite the apparent incompetence that led to a two month delay in getting the DNA evidence to the lab we’re again to trust them that they are “on the case”.

In addition they haven’t done anything to quell fears over the death of Nola Thompson who was found dead up by Loop Road, refusing to even give a suspected cause of death and again saying “trust us” there was no “apparent” foul play.

People have got to question if they would recognize foul play if they saw it.

All people are asking for is reassurance that they can believe- a few details that make sense- as to why they see no connection between the Jackson and west side murders and what went on up at Loop Road and how Thompson died.

If anything this “say no more- I can say no more” cloak and dagger amateurism coming out of KPD has increased the fear level in the community rather than lowered it.

The responsibility for this kind of stumbling and bumbling their way through their investigative and PR efforts falls on the doorstep of the chief no matter how often he asks us to trust him.

It’s time for Chief Perry to give us at least a couple of reasons to believe.