Laserfiche WebLink
Hawaii Police Commission <br /> Regular Session Minutes <br /> March 8, 2024 <br /> Page 11 <br /> • Correspondence No. 24-02: Maui Police Commission's non-participation in hosting <br /> State of Hawaii Commission Conference 2024. Chair Robinson stated that there is a <br /> letter in our packet that talks about that due to the Maui fires, but the letter did not <br /> indicate that they were looking at anyone else to take on the task. <br /> • Correspondence No. 24-06: Request for School Resource Officer at Connections <br /> Public Charter School, Downtown Hilo Campus. Vice Principal John Woolverton <br /> indicated that their charter school is at the restored Kress building at Bayfront and is a <br /> unique educational environment with kindergarten, elementary, and high school <br /> students in an enclosed building. VP Woolverton's argument for a School Resource <br /> Officer (SRO) is mainly to help with controlling behavior and protecting their school, but <br /> they will also offer the Police Department a central substation with surveillance <br /> capabilities and quick response times all over downtown. <br /> Problems include social media, temptations, fighting in front of elementary kids, vaping <br /> devices that are very easy to conceal, and now the marijuana vape which you can't <br /> smell. There is an increase in juvenile gang activity and 25% of their high school <br /> population is special education. They have students that could not cut it at a bigger <br /> Department of Education (DOE) school or they come from troubled homes. Their high <br /> school students have a lot of emotional concerns, lash out verbally, and engage in <br /> physical altercations. Charter schools in general are underfunded compared to bigger <br /> DOE schools, and they need to balance spending money on academics or security. <br /> VP Woolverton related that in the downtown area there is an increase in criminal <br /> activities, homelessness, drugs, and mental illness. There is no space between their <br /> school and a neighboring homeless camp that is 100 yards from them. Ambulance and <br /> paramedics are there all the time for drug overdoses. An SRO would put everyone at <br /> ease, including the downtown community. Going back to COVID, VP Woolverton was <br /> completely outraged and appalled during summer 2020 with defund police and anti- <br /> police sentiments throughout the country, and he sees that manifesting in their youth. <br /> Having an SRO there would go a long way to addressing this anti-police attitude <br /> manifesting in their youth. <br /> Chair Robinson asked how many students they have, to which VP Woolverton stated <br /> they have 170 to 180 elementary students, 170 to 180 middle school students, and 110 <br /> high school students. Chair Robinson asked if they own or rent the property, to which <br /> VP Woolverton said it is owned by an affiliated non-profit organization. They have a <br /> lease on the building but own property on Kaumana Drive and are actually trying to <br /> move their campus away from downtown to the Kaumana property. Chair Robinson <br /> inquired if they made any allocation to provide security for the school due to the issues <br /> in the downtown area. VP Woolverton related that the high school used to be at Nani <br /> Mau, but for financial reasons they brought kindergarten to high school students <br /> together and security was not part of the original strategy. Chair Robinson asked what <br /> is their tuition, to which VP Woolverton replied they don't have any because it's a <br />