2005-04-15 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawaii County Police Commission Regular Session Minutes April 15, 2005 Page 2 committee. Vice Chair Lassiter stated that the fleet committee is aware of this and suggested that the commission hold back on their comments for now. Vice Chair Lassiter stated that Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida should be applauded for taking time to write the commendation letter regarding the incident at the legislative auditor's office. The motion to accept the communications carried unanimously. COMMITTEE REPORTS • Budget and Finance (Frazier): Chair Bertsch stated that no one from the commission was present at the recent budget hearing before the County Council. • Office Management and Staffing (Bertsch /Mitchell): No report. Rules and Policies (Bertsch /Lundkvist): Chair Bertsch stated that it's been about a year since they made suggestions to changes in the rules, including the findings of "with merit" or "without merit," and Corporation Counsel was asked to review the rules for changes. Commissioner Frazier stated that they should go through the commission training before working on the changes. Corporation Counsel Ashida stated that they should develop two categories -- "sufficient evidence" or "insufficient evidence" of wrongdoing. In this way they would not be saying anything negative about the complainant that "with merit" or "without merit" would say. Chair Bertsch stated that he would like to get away from the current exonerate, unfounded, sustain, and not sustain. Chair Mahuna stated that "with merit" or "without merit" would be based on what the commission received. The officer does not have to give a statement to the commission, but when he goes before IA, he is compelled to give a statement. If IA finds misconduct, the fact that the commission exonerated him, may play a part, but the commission does not impose discipline. • Contractual Services (Frazier): No report. Public Relations (Bertsch /Lassiter): Vice Chair Lassiter congratulated Commissioners Steckel, Kaoiwi, and Morimoto for being appointed to the commission. She will put out a press release. She recently completed a press release of the newly graduated recruit class. Regarding the fleet committee, she would like the commission to hold back on any comments until they have heard other comments. CHIEF'S REPORT Including: • Crime: AC Day summarized the written report and highlighted the solving of several crime incidents that were in the news recently. Two officers who had been deployed to Iraq are back and continuing with their recruit training, so they now have 15 new recruits. They also have other officers coming back from Iraq and others returning after leaving the department.