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Hawaii County Police Commission <br />Regular Session Minutes <br />January 18, 2008 <br />Page 4 <br />Vice Chair Whittemore asked if monies could be used for education outreach. In <br />the past the Chief has talked about educating the community about these things. <br />Captain Kanehailua stated that he believes education would be demand reduction, <br />so it could be used for education. <br />In response to Vice Chair Whittemore's inquiry into how much monies they <br />received over the past year, Captain Kanehailua stated that he can speak on <br />Operation Capsize. One of the major settlements was $700,000 on property. <br />Instead of seizing the assets, they had the individual sell the properties so they <br />weren't stuck with trying to auction it off. They took the fair market value and <br />had him pay them in cash. They got 80% of the $700,000 which went into their <br />asset forfeiture fund. <br />Vice Chair Whittemore stated that that sends a strong message to people that <br />they could lose their assets. <br />Deputy Chief Kubojiri stated that in the last several years, the Legislature has been <br />trying to move the forfeiture funds to the state general fund. <br />Chief Mahuna stated that asset forfeiture funds are normally used for big projects <br />such as the RMS. It cannot be used for such items as salaries and wages. <br />Deputy Chief Kubojiri stated that the federal funds are just for the police <br />department. On the state side, the police department gets 25 %, and the <br />prosecutors get 25 %. The state attorney general gets 50 %, but the police <br />department could use a portion of that for training rather than taking it out of the <br />county funds. <br />Chair Lassiter commended Commissioner Mitchell for her very nice presentation at <br />the recent recruit graduation. <br />Commissioner Sumja stated that a woman in his community constantly complains <br />about her neighbors, and that officers are not doing their job. The citizens have <br />approached him and asked how to basically "shut her up" because they are sick <br />and tired of her constant unfounded complaints. If you go by somebody's house, <br />and they have a dog, the dog will bark. When the police officers go there, there is <br />no continuum of barking. The neighbors have brought her gifts and she accused <br />them of bribery. The neighbors want to know the proper procedure to get the <br />woman off their backs. He asked if she could be charged with harassment. <br />