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Hawaii Police Commission <br /> Special Meeting Minutes <br /> December 12, 2022 <br /> Page 24 <br /> their concerns and through action, which would be holding officers <br /> accountable if they cross the line or even being consistent in your processes. <br /> Everything needs to be consistent, and that will lend to dealing with <br /> perception. That's what the greater issue is, perception. They have the <br /> perception out there for some reason that the Constitution isn't being upheld. <br /> That's one of the things the chief would have to address, whether it's through <br /> being clear and communicating both internally and externally or being more <br /> transparent. This is something that's very fluid and he believes would be the <br /> best way to deal with this issue. Everyone here took the same oath and we all <br /> believe in the Constitution, if not, we wouldn't be here. <br /> ➢ Paul Applegate stated he believes that as a police chief and a police <br /> department, we have the obligation to uphold laws. We don't get to pick and <br /> choose which laws we will uphold. It is important that we treat everyone fairly <br /> and apply the laws consistently to everyone. If a member of the public believes <br /> that their Constitutional rights were violated, there are many legal avenues for <br /> them to take to address their grievance. They can file a formal complaint with <br /> this commission, the oversight body of the police chief. They could file a <br /> complaint with the office of professional standards at the police department. <br /> They could also call the FBI and file a complaint there. He thinks it's important <br /> that the public realizes that they do uphold the Constitution and we need to <br /> show them with actions that they treat everyone fairly and consistently with <br /> their application of the law. <br /> • Vice Chair Brown stated during the protest against the thirty-meter telescope on <br /> Mauna Kea, an ethics violation was lodged against then-Mayor Harry Kim. In short, <br /> Mayor Kim had directed HPD to perform actions that were ultimately ruled a <br /> violation by the Ethics Commission. If you were chief, how would you handle being <br /> given a directive to perform what could possibly be a violation of the law? <br /> ➢ Edward Ignacio stated he would not violate anything that he found to be a <br /> violation of the law. The Mauna has been a very hot topic and there are a lot of <br /> stakeholders involved. It's a state entity, but ultimately it is all going to be <br /> coming upon the department here. If he were given an order or directive that <br /> he felt was unethical, that's when you have to have those real hard <br /> conversations with all stakeholders; the Mayor's Office, Police Commission, <br /> and everyone including the leaders in the community. There might be a <br /> solution out there if we communicate or there may be another way to do <br /> things. Unless we grow collaboratively, we're not going to find that solution. <br /> Regarding the ethics violation, hardline no, he would not violate ethics if he <br /> found out it was an ethics violation. That issue will resurface again, we should <br /> be having conversations right now, at every level on how we're going to deal <br /> with this issue when it comes back again. There are a lot of people that were <br /> deeply saddened and those that were deeply affected by what's going on up <br />