"What message does that send to our community when you exonerated someone who has admitted to using these kind of slurs?” Sheehan asked.

"Kealoha defended his action, saying that the city’s human resources department told him he couldn’t follow through with the suspension. He also noted that HPD must be aware of many other factors, including an employee’s rights under the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the police union, the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers."

There are state and federal protections in the workplace against use of racial slurs, but are often hard to prove (he said she said) .  Union contracts are law, which often supersedes many others and thus the reluctance of the City's Human Resources Department to take action.  It would have taken a lot of guts for the Chief to go against the City's Human Resources (to do the right thing) because the government is set up to protect the union, which protects the employeees