2-20-2026 Board Packet for PC Meeting

Home

As a new police recruit 26+ years ago., one of our trainers told us something that shocked me and completely shattered my perception of law enforcement. On our first day of training, we were assigned lockers in the police station locker room. The I instructor told us "Yes, this is a police station... and yes, you should still lock your lockers' Up until that very moment, my view of police officers was one of highest integrity, moral character, ethics, and professionalism. As a young civilian, I had never even imagined officers entrusted with upholding the law engaging in nefarious., unethical, or unlawful activities. Having have had a combined total of —10 years as a Police Officer and Reserve Police Officer, I can tell you with 100% confidence that police officers are human and subject to human emotions, as well as temptations and errors in judgement just Like everyone else. An extreme example is the infamous case involving a certain former Police Chief from a neighboring island. Thankfully, most officers and rank I worked with over the years were genuine, good people trying to do the right thing; like the individual I endorsed and recommended for the Police Chief position. Unfortunately, there are a few that would happily take advantage of any opportunity to do things in their own best interest versus doing what is best for the community and department personnel. I understand there is Likely no way to prove any impropriety occurred from any of the candidates, and to be fair, all candidates may have "played by the rules"; but for anyone paying attention, the opportunity to Leverage for advantage was very apparent; especially for those who were interviewed Late in the day and brought notepads to reference. I missed one or two interviews, but I observed only one candidate with the integrity,, courage, and confidence to go through the questioning without any reference materials. In my humble opinion, candidates (at any level), should not be allowed to bring notes in any form for an interview. A Police Chief should have the ability to formulate articulate thoughts and cogent responses "on the fly" and present them clearly and confidently. While I appreciate the live feed, if the candidates are not going to be sequestered, then the interviews should be recorded and streamed for the public only after all candidates have completed their interviews. My second concern is allowing personnel who have openly expressed support for the chosen candidate to be responsible for the background checks of said candidate. I know the checks are mostly for the sake of formality, but again, it Leaves a potential opportunity for the investigation to be compromised, or at the very least the optics that a compromise could occur. To keep everything "above -board", an independent, outside investigator able to adhere to what you commissioners have determined will be the "Hawaii County Police Department Standards" of background checks should be utilized.