2004-02-20 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawaii County Police Commission Regular Session Minutes February 20, 2004 Page3 CHIEF'S REPORT Including: • Crime: Assistant Chief Chai reported that they received final approval to add two more ice task force positions. This will include a task force at the Kona airport. These monies will come from a special grant provided by U.S. Senator Dan Inouye. Hilo police responded to a fire in Hawaiian Paradise Park where a charred body was found. It was initially reported as an accident, but an autopsy reported that foul play might have been involved, and it was reclassified as a murder case. Over the past several months, they have had problems with students at Keaau Middle School bringing weapons onto campus. Staff and the prosecutors have made presentations at the school, and they have not had any incidents since. • Traffic: Assistant Chief Chai reported that accidents on the highways have caused five deaths. Regarding the incident involving an officer on Alii Drive, they brought in a consultant to reconstruct the accident. Chief Mahuna stated that they do not normally notify next of kin over the telephone. Their policy is to say that a critical accident occurred and ask the family to come to the hospital. This is to prevent upheaval such as driving to the hospital at 100 mph. Their procedure is to notify the family member(s) at the hospital where a physician there could administer medication in case of an emergency reaction such as a seizure or a heart attack. They don't normally have face -to -face contact between the victim and family if the body is in bad condition. They give the family the option of other identification methods such as dental records. In this specific incident, a physician at the Kona Hospital, not by the police department, made the release to the family. There might have been a violation on the part of dispatcher and IA will investigate. Commissioner Lambeth stated that is impossible to believe that the hospital made the notification because they don't normally do that. Chief Mahuna stated that he has never experienced this before. He can only presume that they were rushing or may have forgotten or may have thought the person was an investigator. • Personnel: Major Osorio summarized the written report. The vacancy announcement for Assistant Chief has been posted. • Finance: Major Osorio summarized the written report. • Commendations: Chief Mahuna reported having 12 commendations since the last meeting. • Other departmental activities: Chief Mahuna requested an executive session to brief the commission on ongoing investigations.