2003-07-18 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Regular Session Minutes July 18, 2003 Page 6 deliberation. Thinking out loud he asked if there were any issues with having an I.A. detective present when an officer gave a statement to the commission in closed session. The law states that so long as that person can assist the commission. Captain Tavares stated that they would have to give the officer Garrity and advise him of his rights. Corporation Counsel Ashida stated that it is made clear in Josie's letter to the officer that his statement is voluntary. The officer doesn't have to show up. Detective Yamamoto recommended that the commission use other terms when informing the complainant and the accused officer of the commission's decision. Conflict might occur when they do an investigation and do not concur with the commission's decision. Detective O'Connor stated that an example is if the commission exonerated an officer. They review every report that comes to their office. They might find a problem and do an investigation. Through their investigation, they might find that a violation had been committed and then send it to the ARB. The union could grieve that the officer had already been exonerated. Now, they are looking at a double jeopardy issue. He suggested that the commission change its verbiage and could include, "We're going to send it to the chief for further action." Vice Chair Manago stated that verbiage is very important, and that they need to take a look at sustained, not sustained, exonerated, and unfounded. The Honolulu Police Commission has only three categories -- exonerate, sustain, and not sustain. Commissioner Bertsch suggested that they change the wording to "has merit" and "has no merit." • Status report of complaints referred to Akal. CRAIG FUJIHARA stated that he is from the Honolulu office of Akal and oversees the investigations. He will be e- mailing a status report to Josie every Friday. He will also send a bi- weekly report with the amount of hours and a monthly report. Commissioner Frazier stated that he didn't get much out of the report, and would like to work on it. Commissioner de Silva asked that they add the date of the incident, the date received by the investigator, and the planned completion date. Commission Bertsch asked if all that information -- weekly, bi- weekly, and monthly reports were necessary. Al Bee introduced himself as Akal's new investigator for the Police Commission. He retired from the Honolulu Police Department after 26 years. He was a motorcycle officer, vice officer, and detective. He retired in 1991 as a lieutenant watch commander in Kalihi. He spent the last four years as a law enforcement officer at the Hilo International Airport. He moved to the Big Island because he had property in Kurtistown. He has friends who are retired police officers at the airport, but he doesn't socialize with police officers here. He gave Ms. Pelayo his resume. Commissioner Bertsch asked that Mr. Yamasaki and Mr. Chun return their police identification.