2020-11-20 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawai'i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes November 20, 2020 Page 2 O'Connor recognized AC Wagner who will retire at the end of November with 30+ years of service. Personnel Report: AC Jelsma reported that Scott Uehara of their IT Department is moving to the new mayor's administration, so his position is vacant. Denise Laitinen was hired as their new Public Relations Specialist. Through October 31, they had 77 sworn vacancies, but subtracting those in the 92nd and 93rd recruit classes, they have 43 vacancies. They have three on-going recruit classes at varying stages of training. They have 10 radio dispatcher vacancies. (Vice Chair Schutte entered at 9:21 a.m.) • Finance Report: Major Jelsma reported that for FY 2020-21, up to 10/31/20, the overall targeted expenditure was 37.35%; actual was 36.04%. Targeted S & W was 37.50%; actual was 36.84°/x. Their FY 20-21 budget was approved for $72,091,319 which includes a10% overall reduction. They submitted their FY 21-22 budget of $71,509,724 which includes a 5% overall reduction. Commendations of Sworn and Civilian Employees: Deputy Chief Bugado reported receiving 8 commendations involving 7 personnel since the last commission meeting. CPO Joseph Rocha of Hamakua was name Officer of the Month by the Aloha Exchange Club. Officer Ansel Robinson was named Officer of Month by the Kona Crime Prevention Committee. Other Department Activities: Chief Ferreira reported that they are anticipating three more retirements by the end of the year. The department is very young. Years ago, Mayor Yamashiro put a hold on hiring. They ended up having to do many years of catchup and had very large recruit classes. Those officers now have 25 years of service and qualify for retirement. Training is a 9 -month process. They are very mindful of their numbers. Five to ten years from now, this will be a different department. (Commissioner Brown entered at 9:34 a.m.) They rolled out their bodyworn cameras the second week in November in Puna, Hilo, and Kona, the largest districts. They haven't had any complaints about it, and this will be closely watched. Chief Ferreira reported that the Legislature created a Law Enforcement Standards Board headed by the AG's office. The legislature tried to fix a problem but overreached and included positions such as tax inspector and are now having problems... The board requested funding, but that bill died. Chief Ferreira stated that with everything going on in the mainland, they have not seen an exodus from HPD. Historically, they have a very poor record with mainland