Of the 137 Hawaiian Islands, Oahu happens to be the one that former Lima Allen County Sheriff’s Department detective Mark Murphy has called home since his retirement in April 2013.
Despite the more than seven years he’s spent in his own version of paradise, Murphy is still sometimes referred to as a haole (pronounced “howly”), the word the island’s local people sometimes use for nonlocals.
Laughs the Lima native, “I suppose there are those who would see the word as kind of a slur, but I really don’t. It’s just a word, and, with a lot of the locals I’ve become friends with, I know it’s spoken in jest.”
From the age of 5, the only real career Murphy wanted was to be a police officer. So, at 22, Murph, as he is called by his many friends in Lima, fulfilled his desire. He spent 26 years in law enforcement, 13 as a highway deputy and another 13 as a detective while concurrently serving 19 years as a member of SWAT. Additionally, he received his license to administer polygraphs and did so for seven years. All in all, by anyone’s estimation, Mark Murphy certainly had a distinguished career.
Recently, I caught up with Murphy by phone to see how life in Hawaii has been and to gain his perspective on what can only be described as a troubling year for law enforcement throughout the country. The 1983 LCC graduate, a long-time golf enthusiast, now works at the oldest golf course in Hawaii, Moanalua, as well as a par-three course, Kealohi. Additionally, he also pulls some bartending shifts, just as his late father, Pat, did before him for many years at his bar here in Lima, Murph’s Place.
Our conversation covered a variety of police-related topics on the well-publicized incidents involving police, the protests in major cities that have resulted, the increased danger to law enforcement and the disturbing trends in his former profession.
Murphy told me that those he’s gotten to know in Hawaii are aware of his law-enforcement background and often ask him about the police incidents that become national news involving the police and their interactions with minorities, and that’s when the former detective that still lives within him takes over.
“The first thing I tell them is I always wait till all the facts come out,” he said. “There are some here that want an immediate reaction, and my only immediate reaction is until I know more, that it’s a shame that somebody had to get seriously hurt or die.”
Despite his reluctance in instantly assigning blame as to how an encounter with the public was handled by police, Murphy does concede that there are times when police do make mistakes.
“No question, in a job which often only affords an officer a few seconds to react to something, mistakes can happen,” he said. “But, I always go back to my one basic belief when it comes to all interactions between anyone and the police, and that is, if people will just comply with a lawful command by the police and not resist, the situation won’t escalate. Now, should there be a question whether a command is lawful, my advice would still be comply and then file a civil complaint and let the courts determine what occurred.”
Murphy’s contention has always been, despite the highly publicized incidents in cities like Minneapolis, Louisville, Atlanta and Kenosha, that police do not want to resolve incidents with violence.
“I was so fortunate in my 26 years that I never had to hit someone or discharge my weapon, nor did anyone hit me or fire upon me,” he said. “Listen, no cop I ever knew or heard of wakes up in the morning and decides that today is the day he or she is going to shoot someone.”
When I asked Murphy about the platform adopted by many in reaction to recent incidents that police departments should be defunded, he responded with what he feels is undeniable logic.
“Listen, anyone who is critical of police is going to call for more training for young officers starting out, right?” he asked. “Well, by cutting departmental budgets, how, with less money, is that training going to take place?”
As for the violence and destruction that have ripped apart cities like Seattle and Portland, Murphy is perplexed as to what the end game is.
“Destroying downtown areas and damaging small businesses is never going to solve anything as far as I’m concerned and often destroys livelihoods,” he said.
There has been increased violence against police officers and a dramatic rise in officers fatally shot thus far this year. Combine that with the eroding respect many have for law enforcement and the threat for officers that they’ll potentially face criminal charges for actions they take within seconds often in high-stress, dangerous circumstances, and there’s little wonder there has been a dramatic increase in resignations and early retirements by sworn officers, especially in larger cities such as San Francisco, New York, Louisville and Lexington.
My final question during my 45-minute conversation with the former Lima police officer who grew up on Franklin Street was, to me, obvious. Given what has changed about his former profession in the eight years since he decided to head for a better life in the central Pacific, were Mark Murphy just starting out as a young man in search of a career, would he choose the same career?
“I know deep in my heart no successful society is possible without policing, but, were I just starting out on the mainland, I couldn’t see myself choosing the same path,” Murphy replied. “However, based on what I’ve seen over here, where I’ve noted people seem to have a lot more respect for the police, well, that might be different. However, on the mainland, not a chance.”
Concluded Murphy, “Not a day goes by that I don’t say a prayer to my brothers in sisters in blue, for their ability to make the correct split-second decisions and, of course, for their continued well-being and their safety.”
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