2022-12-13 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Special Meeting Minutes December 13, 2022 Page 2 Hank Silva came before the commission. He stated that he's a retired police major for the Hawaii County Police Department. He served 25 years, then 18 years as a reserve, then as a federal police officer for a year after that. He stated that he has concerns for the police department. He has some questions about the methods used in the selection process and he wants to make sure that the commission covered these in the selection process. He said if not, you did not do your job properly and stated you may need to rethink and start over. He asked, did you continue to use old methods of the past for your pick or did you use modern and intricate methods to get the best results concerning the abilities of all the current applicants or did you use shortcuts? Were any professionals consulted during the selection process? He stated this is a police department with about a $70 million budget of our taxpayers' money. Large companies and other police departments do it, so why not you? Were the captains and lieutenants who have experience or previous chiefs consulted or questioned in gathering opinions about the perspective work ethics of all the applicants? Whom did they feel would be the best pick for the police department? Were other departments questioned about their applicants? Were prior administrative accomplishments submitted by the applicants used in the criteria for the selection? Did you look into their performance evaluations, letters of commendations, appointments as officers of the month/year, etc.? What were the biggest cases that they solved? He stated the kind of chief that the citizens of Hawaii County want is one who is personable, honest, of good character, fair-minded, has courage, someone who is looked up to, someone who is resourceful, smarter than most, has prior military service or knows martial arts, is more physically fit than most and can bench press at least 250 lbs. Joseph Passmore came before the commission, He stated he's a sergeant with the Hawaii Police Department. He congratulated all four candidates and stated he has no doubt that each candidate has merit and he has no ill will towards any of the candidates, but shared that he is there in support of Sherry Bird. He shared that he met her 16 years ago when he first became a police officer. She always treated people well. When he was promoted to sergeant three years ago, he was assigned to the South Kohala district, where she was the captain. She gave him clear, concise expectations and she followed up with those expectations, making sure he was on the right track. When she realized he was on the right track, she allowed him to run his watch. She didn't micromanage; however, she did check in and made sure that he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. She is someone who believes in progressive discipline. He's seen many commanders go straight to 302s for little things that shouldn't be punishable. She believes in following policies, starting with a verbal reprimand, going onto a sup doc, then going onto a 302 if needed. She believes in giving officers second chances. While he was working under her supervision, he had to write performance improvement plans for officers so they had a chance to improve. When you come to her with a problem, she will always ask you for a solution, not because she doesn't know the solution, but because she wants input. One of her sayings is "facts before acts", always making sure they have their facts before they act. He shared about an