2022-12-12 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Special Meeting Minutes December 12, 2022 Page 9 partnerships with our partner agencies and organizations come in. Looking at the big picture for funding of the police department; are they using their funds responsibly, efficiently, and effectively? Along those lines, building back up that trust from the community of our police department. Our police department does a really good job, but there are definitely things we can seek to improve upon. If we were defunded in any way getting some money back, so we can put it back into the police department. As mentioned earlier, there are areas of training that we could improve upon and that would be something that would be her priority, to increase training. If another agency or organization can perform the same tasks and take them off the police department's hands, so they could focus on other things then she would be in support of that. Commissioner Toci asked Sherry Bird if she feels senior officers need training and not just new recruits. Ms. Bird stated everyone could use refreshers and annual training. ➢ Benjamin Moszkowicz stated the job that they all took about 20 years ago as police officers have changed, it's not the same. When you bring up the issue of defunding, the issue of defunding, the idea of accountability is there and the need to be transparent and budgeting and how we're spending our resources. The other side to this equation is, we as law enforcement do a poor job at selling ourselves, and at sharing with the community what it is we do. If you take a naysayer and you bring them on a ride-along, not only are they excited and they want to do it again, but you change their opinion. That's because they've gotten an opportunity to see what police officers really do. When you call 911 it's not because you're having a wonderful day. The people that don't get it are the people who are often in control of the narrative. Folks in the media a lot of time don't get it, some do, but if you check with those that do, they probably have a family member or have taken it upon themselves to interact with police officers and find out what the department is doing. For him the biggest controllable there is the ability to be very thoroughly communicative and to open up opportunities for the public to interact with the police. Public forums and office hours are great, but just taking people who are helping to control the public narrative like the media and inviting them specifically to a training, to show them specifically the day in the life. You will most likely win a whole group of new supporters who will then help to mold the public's opinion into a better more accurate perception of what the department is actually doing. At the same time, taking a fiscally accountable accounting, audit-type standpoint is also important. You have to make sure that you're transparently spending the public's money on what it is that they need. • Vice Chair Brown stated the Hawaii Police Department has been under the administration of Police Chief Paul Ferreira, do you see a need to implement