2002-01-18 Police Commission Minutes

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HAWAII COUNTY POLICE COMMISSION MINUTES — REGULAR SESSION JANUARY 18, 2002 HILO POLICE DEPARTMENT CALL TO ORDER Chair Okabe called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. ROLL CALL Present: Wilfred M. Okabe, Chair Horace S. Hara, Vice Chair Daniel C. Kama, Member Phoebe M. Lambeth, Member Dwight K. Manago, Member Clarence Mills, Member Walter Moe, Member Peter Muller, Member Also Present: James S. Correa, Police Chief Wendell Paiva, Assistant Chief Thomas Hickcox, Assistant Chief Lawrence Mahuna, Assistant Chief Lincoln Ashida, Corporation Counsel Josie Pelayo, Secretary Excused: John M. Bertsch, Member APPROVAL OF AGENDA Vice Chair Hara moved to approve the agenda. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Lambeth and unanimously carried. PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS ANITA MATHEWS came before the commission and spoke in response to her letter to the commission, Correspondence 03. Stated that she called 911 to report noises in her garage area in the early morning hours, but no one responded. Sergeant Balberde called her and said that dispatch did not handle the situation properly. She also received a letter from Chief Correa and is satisfied with the situation. CHARLES HANSON came before the commission requesting to know the number of complaints the commission received last year and how many were considered valid and how many were rejected. He has a feeling that the number of complaints that were rejected is quite high. If the majority of cases are rejected as not having validity, they need to look at that. Corporation Counsel Ashida stated that Mr. Hanson could make a records request to the commission's secretary. However, the law does not require an agency to do compilations. If it is something that is already in existence, then it should be made available in ten days. Vice Chair Manago stated that they deal with each case individually based on the facts that are presented to them, and that's how they make their decision. They listen to both sides, the people making the complaints and the officers' response to the complaint. If there seems to be no merit according to the complaint, they may dismiss it. If there seems to be misconduct, they may send it to their investigator. DEL PRANKE came before the commission and stated that in his complaint against Detective Medeiros, the commission did not review all of the evidence that he presented. Mr. Okabe had or still has a videotape that he presented that they never looked at, so he understands Mr. Hanson's question. He presented a list of ten questions (attached for filing) and stated that if Chief Correa doesn't answer the questions in his chief's report, it is an incomplete report. If the commission accepts an incomplete report, they are not doing their job.