2001-03-16 Police Commission Minutes

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March 16, 2001 Regular Session Minutes Page 5 Chief Correa reported that there are two sources of monies. The first one is called the marijuana eradication grant through the Vern Memorial Fund, through the State AG's office. This is the one that just passed. The second source of funding through DEA will be coming through in about three weeks. The funding is important because it handles all of the marijuana eradication and investigative programs island -wide. If they go back in history, the County of Hawaii has been the largest cultivator of this illegal marijuana. If you go nationally, the State of Hawaii has always been the one that had the most cultivated marijuana. 90% of that marijuana state -wide comes out of the Hawaii County. Marijuana can be cultivated very quickly. So, without proper maintenance to limit the problem, it can expand quickly. Marijuana can be sold and make enormous elicit incomes, and it can be used to perpetuate other drugs. Last week they picked up almost 4 lbs. of heroin, and 1 1/2 lbs. of cocaine. Most of the money they use is for the aircraft, and they've come to an understanding with the County Council that they will be very sensitive to the noise problems of the community, and will do whatever they can to mitigate the noise. In response to Commissioner Mills' inquiry, Chief Correa stated that ice is a large problem. A lot of their cases from the drug side and from the behavioral side as far as violent crime, have some association with the use of drugs, some of which is ice. Commissioner Williams stated he is amazed that a number of councilmen were anti accepting the money for marijuana eradication when in reality people start on marijuana and work their way up into harder drugs. Yet, they want the department to go hard against hard drugs. Assistant Chief Paiva informed that a lot of people are under the misconception that funding is available for rehabilitation or preventive measures, but funding that they receive for the eradication program is specifically for eradication. They cannot accept the money and then divert it to rehabilitation or preventive measures. • Traffic: Assistant Chief Paiva presented the report which is attached. Chief Correa distributed crash and DUI statistics which are used as planning tools for enforcement activities or when extra personnel is needed. • Personnel: Chief Correa reported having seven sworn and six civilian vacancies. He further reported that in field operations they have a Special Response Team that was started last year consisting of twelve individuals from the around the island. In about a year they will be fully trained to handle high risk situations, injuries and hostage situations. They are taking bids on a records management system. This should assist them in collecting information on crime data, budget, personnel, and training. The detention facility is on schedule. They have an automated booking system that will be replacing the current booking system in Hilo and Kona. The first phase of this project is only a pilot for the County of Hawaii. They will have PCs set up for data input, and at the same time it should have a live scan fingerprint system. It will be sent immediately to the FBI, and there should be a two -hour turnaround in confirmation if this person was previously arrested or if there is a warrant. With that they will have an automated mug shot system. In the next phase, all districts will have the computer system, but not all will have the finger printing system because it's too