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Hawaii Police Commission <br />Regular Session Minutes <br />February 17, 2023 <br />Page 7 <br />Other Department Activities & Updates: Chief Moszkowicz reported that they're <br />currently working on an intern program. He met with DHR this week to discuss <br />converting the vacant position numbers into contracts. He also spoke with DHR about <br />offering a continuous recruitment process. Logistics for administering civil service tests <br />were also discussed with DHR. He also reported that one of his five priorities was the <br />creation of a DROP program, and he had some preliminary discussions with legislation. <br />Chief Moszkowicz reported there were two officer -involved shootings. The first one was <br />on Saturday, January 28, 2023, in the Pahala area. Officers were at the scene to serve <br />a restraining order to a male who was not at home. While they were waiting, they heard <br />dogs barking in the residence. As they turned to leave, the dogs exited the house, four <br />to five large pit bulls leave the house, and ran past the first officer going directly to the <br />second officer where they start jumping. This all happened quickly, within a second or <br />two, one of them jumped up and snapped his jaw at the officer. The officer in fear for <br />his life retreated as much as he could and fired one round which strikes the dog and <br />the dog died at the scene. On Monday they issued a statement and press releases and <br />by Tuesday they released redacted body -worn camera footage from one of the officers. <br />Body cam footage from the other officer does not exist, they released all the body <br />camera footage that they have. <br />Commissioner Lassiter asked if the owners of the dogs were cited for vicious dogs. <br />Chief Moszkowicz stated two investigations were initiated. One is a criminal <br />investigation into the fact that the dog was loose. The other investigation is an <br />administrative investigation that looks at whether or not the officers followed policy and <br />general orders. Both investigations are currently ongoing and he doesn't know its <br />status. <br />Commissioner Sur stated common sense is not to let your dogs out, especially if <br />they're big and somewhat aggressive. You would really need to know dogs to see a <br />pack of five dogs coming after you to really understand if they're going to bite you or <br />not. He gave credit to both officers. Chief stated if they can develop some sort of <br />curriculum for the officers about animal behavior and things to look for, it could <br />potentially prevent future tragedies. He also stated the officer feels really bad, he didn't <br />mean to kill the dog. He felt his life was in danger and that's the decision he made. Any <br />other training they can provide will only help make that decision better in the future. <br />The second officer -involved shooting occurred on Friday, February 3, 2023. The <br />officers were responding to a vehicle theft, which later turned out to be a robbery. <br />Officers on the scene got a suspect description and broadcast it. Other officers in the <br />neighborhood see a person who matches the suspect's description in the same <br />neighborhood, and they attempted to detain the potential suspect to talk to him. The <br />suspect fled, as he was running away he pulled out what appeared to be a handgun <br />from his waist, turned to the officers, and ignored the officers' commands to stop. As a <br />result, one of the officers fired two shots from his handgun, hitting the suspect in his <br />