2025-08-22 Police Commission Regular Minutes

Home

Regular Session Minutes August 22,2025 Page 4 urged prioritizing hiring local,, who can lead with aloha, integrity, and respect for diversity. Ruth Robisonemphasizedthe complexities faced by local police, including mental health, substance abuse, gun crimes, and domestic violence. She highlighted concerns about local law enforcement’s potential involvement in federal immigration enforcement under programs like 287(g) and memorandums of agreement with ICE, noting possible financial, legal, and public trust impacts. She urged the commission to include specific questions about immigration enforcement in the police chief selection process, ensure public candidate interviews (in-person and via Zoom), and seek transparency on candidates’ positions regardingICE, rescinding existing MOUs, and preventing new agreements. Patrice Belcherurgedthe commission to consider the principles of pono and aloha in selecting a new police chief. She expressed concern over ICE activities in the community, including masked agents, sometimeslacking warrants, and incidents affecting innocent people. She criticized existing MOUs and ICE funding arrangements as contrary to the values of the island. Belcher emphasized the importance of a chief who respects and protects the community, particularly families and children, and urged the commission to prioritize aloha and fairness in the selection process. Recess was called at 10:08 a.m., and the meeting reconvened at 10:30 a.m. NEW BUSINESS Presentation on Police Chief Selection Process:Sommer Tokihiro and Michelle Simmons from the Department of Human Resources provided an overview of the process used for the 2022 Police Chief recruitment. The process included advertising the position, screening applicants for minimum qualifications, and having candidates anonymously complete a detailed questionnaire. Commissioners then scored the anonymous responses to determine the finalists. The commission met in executive session to identifyfinalists to continue in the process. Once the finalists were selected, the Department of Human Resources “unmasked” their identities to the commission. At that point, all correspondence with the finalists transitioned from Human Resources to the Police Commission. With written consent, finalists’ names were made public; all other applicants remained confidential. The next step included a public testimony session, where the community was invited to provide input on the finalists. Finalists were notified in advance and asked to provide a brief introduction and answer questions in an open setting. The finalstep of the process was an in-person interview with the commission. It was noted that, during the 2022 recruitment, the Police Commission waived the one-year commission also discussed its Rules of