By MATTHEW LEONARD, Honolulu Civil Beat<\/p>\n
San Francisco Police Department investigators had questions for one of their own. But Officer Riley Bandy didn\u2019t want to talk.<\/p>\n
A family had complained about how Bandy had handled a missing persons case. But for over four years, Bandy dodged the internal investigation, and he resigned rather than cooperate \u2014 surrendering his police certification in November 2024.<\/p>\n
He can never work as a cop in California again.<\/p>\n
But that wasn\u2019t a problem for Bandy. A few months before, he had started a new job in Honolulu as an investigator for Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm.<\/p>\n
Alm\u2019s special counsel Christine Denton said the office didn\u2019t know about Bandy\u2019s alleged misconduct or the finding that he had failed to cooperate with the internal investigation<\/a> until contacted by Civil Beat.<\/p>\n That outcome would have been considered if Bandy had disclosed it when he applied, she said. But the finding of serious misconduct didn\u2019t become a matter of public record until April, and Bandy did not raise the matter of the active investigation when applying.<\/p>\n Denton said that all applicants for the investigator positions are asked \u201cif there is anything that would prohibit them from fully performing the duties of a law enforcement officer,\u201d and Bandy said there was not.<\/p>\n The fact that the investigation dragged on for several years meant it remained confidential long enough for Bandy to change jobs without having to disclose it.<\/p>\n The case illustrates the blind spots that persist in vetting law enforcement applicants in Hawai\u02bbi. Even during what Denton described as a \u201cvery thorough background check,\u201d the office\u2019s investigators did not have access to his personnel records and relied instead on references from three former supervisors including two from the San Francisco department. All of those were outstanding, she said.<\/p>\n In other states, candidates for police jobs are required to sign waivers allowing would-be employers to access personnel records. A planned police standards office in Hawai\u02bbi would have the power to require such waivers, but its official launch has been delayed until the middle of 2028.<\/p>\n Denton declined to comment on whether the misconduct finding from the investigation had any implications for Bandy\u2019s employment.<\/p>\n But the finding might impact his ability to do his job because it could undermine his credibility as a prosecution witness if he\u2019s required to testify.<\/p>\n While Alm\u2019s investigators are rarely subpoenaed to appear in court, Honolulu defense attorney Christian Enright said that attorneys would be entitled to raise questions about an investigator\u2019s background in court once details of past conduct were made public.<\/p>\n The office\u2019s investigators function as armed law enforcement, Enright said, and should also be subject to defense motions asking the prosecution to turn over evidence that might favor the accused, known as Brady or Giglio information<\/a>. Any history of racial bias or excessive force would be particularly relevant in a defense case, he said.<\/p>\n The office has had an issue with at least one of its investigators before, an employee who was investigated for obstructing his own domestic violence case<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bandy did not respond to attempts to reach him by phone, email or mail, including written questions about the findings of the report.<\/p>\n In the investigative report, he denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n \u201cI always cooperated. I never did not,\u201d Bandy eventually told investigators. But the report noted that Bandy had ended his employment before the investigation was completed, and never invoked any \u201cconstitutional, statutory, or other legally recognized right\u201d under California law for not cooperating.<\/p>\n A Missing Daughter And A Family Complaint<\/p>\n In November 2021, a Bay Area family contacted the San Francisco Police Department to report their adult daughter was missing. They were concerned because she had an intellectual disability and told police her behavior could be childlike.<\/p>\n Three days later, the family and the daughter spoke with Bandy to report she had returned home safely, but only after she\u2019d escaped from an unknown person who had held her against her will.<\/p>\n Bandy wrote an incident report to close the file, but in his version the woman had gone to San Francisco to \u201cparty and do drugs\u201d and had made the kidnapping story up so her parents wouldn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Five days later, the family filed a formal complaint with the Department of Police Accountability saying Bandy had been rude to them and failed to properly investigate the kidnapping allegation.<\/p>\n Investigators in September 2024 concluded that Bandy\u2019s police work on the missing persons case had been unprofessional, lacked diligence and amounted to \u201cImproper Conduct\u201d but was not grounds for serious discipline.<\/p>\n More seriously, Bandy had failed to cooperate with the misconduct investigation for years, and that was sufficient grounds to suspend or revoke his California police certification.<\/p>\n But by the time that finding was made public on a state website this year, Bandy had long since surrendered his California certification and had been working as an investigator in Alm\u2019s office for nearly two years, making between $72,500 and $103,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n The job involves performing and supervising investigations into \u201csuspected or actual violations of civil, administrative and\/or criminal laws, rules, regulations or other legal requirements,\u201d according to the job description<\/a>.<\/p>\n Any potential employer backgrounding Bandy would not have had access to the internal investigation because it was still active when he was applying for the Hawai\u02bbi job, according to Meagan Poulos of the California Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training<\/a>.<\/p>\n California police personnel records remain largely confidential by default<\/a>, although there are exceptions that went into effect in 2019. Those exceptions include audits or investigations by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which certifies California peace officers and has the authority to suspend or decertify officers for serious misconduct.<\/p>\n Hawai\u02bbi still lacks a police certification process due to delays establishing the equivalent of the California office, and that likely made the transition easier for Bandy because his certification was not in conflict with his Honolulu job.<\/p>\n Poulos said the office could not comment on the case beyond what was in the published investigation, but confirmed that Bandy had voluntarily surrendered his California police certification in November 2024, an irrevocable step that means he can never work as a cop in the state again. Bandy is also on a national register of officers who have been decertified or had their license revoked because of misconduct, she said.<\/p>\n The final investigation report<\/a> makes clear that the lengthy delays were in large part caused by Bandy\u2019s lack of cooperation, including three no-shows at official interviews when he was under subpoena.<\/p>\n San Francisco police general orders \u2014 the department\u2019s \u201cmost authoritative and permanent directives\u201d \u2014 say that officers must cooperate fully and help the Department of Police Accountability investigate any complaints against them, and they \u201cshall appear for scheduled interviews and be prepared to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n The internal investigation shows a dramatic turn in the career trajectory of an officer whose star was on the rise just a decade ago.<\/p>\n Bandy joined the department in January 2015, according to employment records obtained by nonprofit newsroom Invisible Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then in 2017, Bandy received the department\u2019s highest award for bravery<\/a> \u2014 the Gold Medal of Valor \u2014 for foiling an armed robbery in Oakland while he was off-duty and unarmed. He ran after an armed suspect who pointed an air rifle at him several times. Bandy later tackled the suspect and helped Oakland police arrest them.<\/p>\n Among those who recommended Bandy for the medal was his then-commander at SFPD\u2019s Central Station, Captain David Lazar \u2014 now Honolulu\u2019s police chief.<\/p>\n Lazar had no idea that Bandy was under investigation or had left San Francisco and ended up at the Prosecuting Attorney\u2019s office, HPD\u2019s communication director Claudette Springer said. Lazar was not asked for a professional reference when Bandy applied for the job with the prosecutor\u2019s office, Springer said.<\/p>\n But at some point after receiving his award, Bandy\u2019s career at the department started going off the rails.<\/p>\n The internal investigation report lists other instances of confirmed misconduct in Bandy\u2019s work history starting in 2017, the year he was awarded the medal. Later that year he failed to turn up at the range for his firearm qualification. He was admonished and had to retrain in 2018.<\/p>\n Then in 2019, there were three instances of improper conduct that appear connected and took place in close proximity, including contacting a crime victim for personal reasons, inappropriate conduct and compromising an investigation.<\/p>\n The disciplinary outcome was a combined five-day suspension.<\/p>\n Other misconduct allegations, including that he showed racial bias when he detained a car burglary suspect in 2020 and used excessive force in 2021, were investigated and closed with no further action. An allegation of failing to activate a body-worn camera was never resolved.<\/p>\n Those details only came to light because of the San Francisco family who reported their daughter missing. Bandy\u2019s prior disciplinary cases wouldn\u2019t have been publicly available if they hadn\u2019t been cited in the alleged kidnapping case and the final determination that he had failed to cooperate in his own internal investigation. The department posts reports<\/a> on disciplinary cases, but the identity of the officer remains confidential.<\/p>\n