2022-12-13 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Special Meeting Minutes December 13, 2022 Page 26 he will do an amazing job as the chief. He can also point them to the volumes of public support that he received when he applied for the Honolulu chief job six months ago. He intentionally didn't go out and drum up support. Having learned from the previous process, while he feels like public testimony and support are important, he also understands that this is not a popularity contest. Ultimately the decision of who you select will boil down to the eight of you who are participating in the process. He would hope that they would look at the total sum picture of their application, interrogatories, etc. He has an executive-level skillset where he can come in, form collaborations, identify partners, find solutions that work, and as the CIO basically of this company, of the Hawaii County Police Department, those are the skills that he brings to the table. • Commissioner Andrion had a question for Sherry Bird. He stated he'd like to revisit the concerns of the commission and members of the public in regard to the perceived conflict of interest relating to the hotel accommodations you received for your official duties at the Ironman event. In Hawaii County Code, Code of Ethics, Section 2-91.4., no officer or employee shall solicit, accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, any gift, whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing, or promise or in any other form, under circumstances in which it can reasonably be inferred that the gift is intended to influence the officer or employee in the performance of the officer's or employee's official duties or is intended as a reward for any official action on the officer's or employee's part. Question is, do you still stand by your statement that you did not violate the department's General Order regarding gifts, and secondly with this perception and the public now realize, would you make any changes in the way HPD works in connection with the annual Ironman event? ➢ Sherry Bird stated that she would revisit it, but she will stand by her position that she did not utilize the hotel room or perceive it to be a gift or a reward for her actions acting in her official capacity working this event to ensure the public safety. It was by no means in any way influencing any decision that she made, other than making sure the event ran smoothly and everybody was protected. She's proud to say that no one got hurt, that was her ultimate message to the personnel. As far as the hotel room, it was there to use the restroom, to maybe get a couple of hours of sleep, but definitely, it wasn't given as a reward for her position, it didn't influence her in any way. She stated again, it was just part of her official capacity, running the police operations for the Ironman event. • Commissioner Andrion stated earlier we heard testimony regarding lack of training and low retention of officers, due to upper management failing to keep up with current trends, and current training. Frustration was shared that even in your current position of influence there have allegedly not been any changes or improvements in