2023-01-20 Police Commission Regular Minutes

Home

Hawaii Police Commission Regular Session Minutes January 20, 2023 Page 12 ➢ Complaints in the non-acceptance category: o HPC 22-52: Commissioner Robinson motioned to accept the chair's decision to decline the investigation due to the 90-day rule. The complaint was filed 668 days after the incident. Seconded by Vice Chair Toci, with no discussion, and it carried unanimously, motion carried. o Correspondence 22-11: Commissioner Robinson motioned to accept the chair's decision to decline the investigation. The complainant has given notice of intention to seek remedies through a civil suit. Seconded by Commissioner Lassiter, with no discussion, it carried unanimously, motion carried. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Commissioner Sur suggested the commission have a debriefing at the next meeting regarding the chief selection process. The commission could discuss the positives and negatives of what we went through and any suggestions on where we could have improved. Chair Brown stated basically, Commissioner Sur is requesting to place on the next agenda that we discuss how the process went. Commissioner Sur stated they could talk about what could've been changed or improved upon. Chair Brown asked if anyone is opposed to this suggestion, and there were none. Commissioner Bertsch stated it was a good idea. He further stated there was a tremendous amount of correspondence between the Chair, Corporation Counsel, the Mayor's Office, and the HR Department. Because of the Sunshine Law, our hands are tied in communicating directly back to the commission, and even when we got into executive session, what got us to the point where we were was like navigating playing a game of Tetris. He stated he's happy to expose this information to the commission, so they understand the herculean effort they went through just to get to some of these points where we could lay out to the commission an efficient way of going through the process, without jeopardizing the integrity of it. Commissioner Sur stated regarding what Commissioner Bertsch said about the chairman's correspondences, it's kind of a gray area. If you guys were communicating, we weren't purview to a lot of the stuff. He asked DCC Frenz for her opinion on the Sunshine Law when it comes to this. DCC Frenz stated Sunshine Law is for the public, it provides transparency between boards and commissions and the public who may be interested in the information that the boards and commissions have. The Sunshine Law sets up very specific parameters by which conduct must occur and it also sets out what you cannot do. She thinks the point Commissioner Sur is trying to make is wanting to have the purview of that part of the process, as opposed to the public for example. If she thinks she understands what he's trying to say, it's almost like a double negative. She further stated