2022-12-13 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Special Meeting Minutes December 13, 2022 Page 11 they're representing the masses or the rest of the workforce. They felt compelled to come out and talk, that's good, he likes that, he likes to engage. He doesn't like to talk to people, he likes to talk with people. That is a way you'll learn about your department. For a new guy coming in, it's important to actually talk to these guys immediately, engage with them, and show that you are open. ➢ Benjamin Moszkowicz stated It takes a lot of courage, especially at potential risks to your career depending on who gets the job or having the fear that retaliation is a real possibility. To him, it's completely unacceptable. When they went on a break, he went specifically to the two gentlemen who gave testimony and thanked them. He thanked them for their courage in bringing forward these important issues that are clearly something that needs to be addressed in the department. There's absolutely no room for retaliation. The best way to heal the problems is to bring those issues out into the open and deal with them directly. If you have a fear of retaliation then that's never going to happen and things will continue to be stuck in the mud, as stated earlier. It's not something that would be condoned or accepted under his administration. ➢ Sherry Bird stated she would not promote an atmosphere of retaliating against anybody. She's a fair person of high integrity and as a leader, you have to take the negative comments with the positive comments. She accepts the comments that may not be so nice, but she wants to use that as a learning tool for how can she do better in her position. Some good points were brought up and valid points. You can tell the passion and it does take courage to go up there and speak what they were speaking to. She stated that she truly appreciates hearing that and them being the voice for others that may not want to be up there or can't. She doesn't promote or participate in a culture of retaliating against anyone just because they may have a difference of opinion. She welcomes suggestions. They can't do the same things they've been doing the same way. They need to be different, so how do we be different and capitalize on doing things differently? • Commissioner Lassiter had a question for all candidates. She asked, how would you put West and East Hawaii as one? It appears now that we have sections. As a chief, would you combine and have one big community of 500 officers? When she listened to some of the testifiers, it was like there were two sides to the island. She asked how would you do that? ➢ Sherry Bird stated that it does sometimes seem that way because our island is so big. For organizational purposes, we are divided almost as if we're two police departments, but operating under one umbrella. When she started recruit class, she was taught there's the Hilo way then there's the Kona way. Over time she saw a difference in the way they do things. Generally