Between January of 2015 and January of 2016, Maui Police Officer Rachel Garvin has managed to get arrested a grand total of five times. All of which began when she showed up drunk at school to pick her son up, then promptly crashed into a guard rail.
Instead of arresting her or even so much as testing her to see if she was in fact legally drunk, the other Good Cops who showed up to “investigate” that crash, including a lieutenant, merely forced her to get a ride home from a friend.
Unfortunately for Officer Garvin, the complaints about her being drunk from the teachers at the school led to an internal investigation. That led to charges against her for child endangerment (not drunk driving, since her co-workers didn’t bother to investigate that) for which she was given probation.
Soon enough she was back to drinking and testing her driving skills, though. Although she was actually charged with DUI in May, somehow she managed to not be thrown in jail or even fired even though it was a violation of her probation. The department even sent out a press release about it, except they forgot to mention she was already on probation for doing the same thing just four months earlier.
This eventually led to her being arrested three more times for that probation violation and for not bothering to show up to court twice. Meanwhile, guess who hasn’t been fired or sent to jail for her string of crimes?
Instead, she has been relegated to desk duty until everybody forgets about all this and she can get back out there on the streets keeping everyone safe again.
The local M.A.D.D. representative has an interesting take on the whole situation.
Via Hawaii News Now:
Arkie Koehl, with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the situation puts the Maui Police Department in a difficult position.
“It’s kind of awkward for Mothers Against Drunk Driving because the police are our closest partners and we totally depend on the police, just as the public depends on the police to protect us from drunk drivers,” Koehl said.
The Maui Police Department and the police union did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Koehl said the case illustrates that no one is immune from alcohol abuse.
“Misuse and abuse of alcohol and drugs does not discriminate by what company you work for, what government agency you work for, what race, nationality, or religion you are … alcohol strikes anybody,” he said.
