2005-10-21 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawaii County Police Commission Regular Session Minutes October 21, 2005 Page 2 COMMITTEE REPORTS • Budget and Finance (Frazier): No report. • Office Management and Staffing (Bertsch /Mitchell): No report. • Rules and Policies (Bertsch /Lundkvist): Chair Bertsch reported that rule changes were made at the public hearing that preceded this meeting. • Contractual Services (Frazier): Commissioner Frazier recommended that they extend the investigator's contract for an additional year. Chair Bertsch stated that he would like to discuss this further after discussing Corporation Counsel Ashida's suggestions for investigating citizen complaints (Correspondence 05 -54). • Public Relations (Bertsch /Lassiter): Chair Bertsch reported that Vice Chair Lassiter was on her way to Miami, Florida for the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) conference, when all flights to Miami were cancelled due to the impending hurricane. She is now stranded in Washington, D.C. CHIEF'S REPORT Including: • Crime: Assistant Chief Day reported that CIS has solved many cases from prior months. Chair Bertsch stated that burglary cases are hot topics in his area, as in other areas in town. He inquired as to how they could help the officers in the field. Assistant Chief Day stated that officers at the scene have been trained. It is expensive, but they could always use more training. If they could get two officers at the scene, they could do more work, but they don't have enough people. The Community Policing Officers help to educate the public in deterring crime, but they are short - staffed, and the CPOs are now doing patrol work. • Traffic: Assistant Chief Nakamichi summarized the written report. He stated that the high number of seatbelt violations is a result of officers going out on a grant- funded program. Personnel: Major Paul Ferreira entertained questions to the personnel report. They expect some vacancies to be filled in the next several months. Chair Bertsch stated that last year the county council gave the police department 15 new positions. He questioned why they couldn't have balanced vacancies in every district. Kona is short 43% vs. Hilo which is short 21 %. Finance: Accountant Kay Nishibayashi entertained questions to the financial report. She stated that they supplement overtime payments with regular time wages from vacant positions. • Commendations: Deputy Chief Kubojiri reported receiving seven commendations in the past month.