LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Mayor Bryan Baptiste said yesterday that he spent close to six weeks coming to the conclusion that Police Chief K.C. Lum's failure to communicate effectively — and often his failure to communicate at all — was cause to remove Lum from office.

"Leadership and communication go hand in hand," said Baptiste, who on Monday asked the Kaua'i Police Commission to remove Lum from office. Lum has said he will fight any ouster effort.

Commission chairwoman Carol Furtado, a longtime supporter of the chief, said she is in no hurry to comply with Baptiste's request.

"I need more information if I'm going to affect someone's life in that way," she said. She said she has not spoken about the issue with other commission members, and has no plans to call a commission meeting before its next scheduled session Feb. 24.

Baptiste said that when Lum took office, he informed the chief that he expected him to unite a divided department.

"This has not happened, and I truly feel that there is more divisiveness in the department today than the day the present chief took over," the mayor said.

Baptiste said that while every other department head submits weekly reports to the mayor's office, Lum, during his 16 months as chief, has never provided the mayor's office with a weekly report.

"I have made numerous requests of Chief Lum to improve and increase communications with the mayor's office but have seen no evidence of that happening," Baptiste said.

County Council Public Safety Committee chairman Mel Rapozo said he has had similar problems.

"We ask for things and we do not get any response from the chief, despite repeated reminders. In meetings with SHOPO (the police union), we learned he did not respond to the union or to the personnel department. I thought it was just a problem (Lum had) with the council.

"We have no problem with any other department in the county. Normally, we send a request, we get a response," Rapozo said.

Baptiste said he has been considering how to deal with the problems in the police department for about six weeks, thinking about it through the Christmas holidays and during a January trip to the Philippines. He said he is prepared to be called before the police commission to explain his position.

"I will give them my mana'o (thoughts)," he said.

While any effort to remove Lum may take time, Baptiste, Rapozo, Furtado and, indeed, Lum himself, all appear to agree that something must be done immediately do deal with the fractured Kaua'i Police Department. Their proposals differ somewhat, but all suggest some kind of a mass meeting at which officers can work out their differences.

Baptiste said he plans on "asking SHOPO to join with me in engaging professional facilitation services to assist in the healing and uniting of the department."

"I suggested bringing in a Hawaiian healer or kumu," Rapozo said.

Furtado agreed: "It's long overdue. It should have been done when George Freitas (the last chief) left. And if I recall, when the chief (Lum) talked about his goals, he talked about it. We have talked about it numerous times."

Rapozo, a former police officer, was asked whether things were bad enough in the department that officers would be willing to set aside differences to improve overall conditions.

"We're there," he said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.