2025-11-21 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Regular Session Minutes November 21, 2025 Page 4 Process Discussion: • Adherence to Requirements: The Commission and Ms. Simmons confirmed that applicants who failed to follow instructions or meet requirements would not be given an opportunity to resubmit. Ms. Simmons stated she would send notices out today to the remaining applicants who did not meet the minimum qualifications. • Questionnaire/Grading: The 27 qualified applicants will receive the written interrogatories. Commissioners will grade the anonymized responses on a scale of 1-5. Ms. Simmons will compile the cumulative scores from all nine commissioners, and the Commission will then determine the finalists for interviews. Motion to Release Questions: Vice Chair Bertsch moved to release the blank questionnaire questions to the general public to increase transparency, noting that applicant answers will remain confidential at this stage. Seconded by Commissioner Urban -Smith. Motion carried unanimously. Motion on Scoring Process: Commissioner Yamada moved that commissioners will input their individual scores on a spreadsheet provided by DHR and return it to Ms. Simmons for cumulative tallying. Seconded by Commissioner Urban -Smith. Motion carried unanimously. Timeline: • December 3, 2025: Applicant questionnaire responses due. • December 4, 2025: Responses distributed to Commissioners. • December 10, 2025: Commissioner scores due back to DHR. Vice Chair Bertsch moved that commissioners complete the interrogatory scoring and submit their responses to DHR by the close of business on December 10. Commissioner Yamada seconded, with no discussion; the motion carried unanimously. (Commissioner Tavares arrived at 10:16 a.m.) Chair Robinson noted that Ms. Simmons will compile the commissioners' scores and provide the ratings for discussion at the December 19th meeting, when the Commission will determine which candidates to interview. He also announced that both his and Vice Chair Bertsch's terms end in December, with no carryover, and they will conclude their service at the end of the year. Ms. Simmons asked about next steps after tallying the scores, and Chair Robinson instructed her to have the results ready for the December 19th meeting.