2024-07-19 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Regular Session Minutes July 19, 2024 Page 5 Additionally, HPD received the Outstanding Partnership Award from Homeland Security Investigations. Further discussion covered ghost guns and the statewide bomb squad. Chair Robinson questioned how ghost guns are obtained and assembled, asking if serial numbers are ground off or if components are ordered and put together. He was interested in understanding their acquisition, assembly, and lack of serial numbers. Commissioner Tavares wanted to clarify his earlier request about salaries and wages. He asked if it would be possible to include a separate statistic in the summary showing overtime as a percentage of total actual HPD salaries and wages, with year-over-year trends and three- and five-year averages. He expects this would reveal trends between overtime as a percentage of total salaries and wages in relation to headcount, as well as trends between overtime as a percentage of actual wages and vacancies. He believes this information would be helpful. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES • Chair Robinson asked if there were any comments or discussions regarding the minutes. Hearing none, the regular and executive session minutes from the June 21, 2024 meeting were approved, with no objections. NEW BUSINESS Correspondence No. 24-18: Invitation letter to the 68th Annual Hawaii State Law Enforcement Officials Association (HSLEOA) Conference. Chair Robinson announced that the invitation had been distributed and inquired if anyone planned to attend. With no responses, he mentioned that he and John Bertsch were planning to attend and asked others to let them know if they also intended to go. Recess was called at 9:54 a.m., the meeting reconvened at 10:07 a.m. Chair Robinson announced that a new attorney has been assigned to the commission. DCC Frenz is now with the Police Department, and DCC Salas-Ferguson will be their new counsel. Commissioner Lacerte expressed her dissatisfaction with the assignment change, noting that it was not a reflection on the new counsel. She found it absurd that their previous counsel, who assisted with police complaints, is now working directly for the department. She asked if others felt the same way. Chair Robinson agreed with her concerns and noted that he had hoped to have DCC Frenz participate in the upcoming special meeting to amend their rules and regulations. He added that he is confident DCC Salas-Ferguson will provide valuable assistance as well.