2008-08-22 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawaii County Police Commission Regular Session Minutes August 22, 2008 Page 3 effect that drove the moving /regulatory number up 50 %. AC Pacheco said that there was no program for that. • Personnel: Major Kanehailua reported that they have 47 sworn vacancies, of which 37 are authorized recruits. So, the vacancy is actually 10. Continuous recruitment will be terminated because the vacancy will be down to 5 in November. Continuous recruitment for the cadet program will also end because there will be no positions to transition into. Four cadets transitioned to the recruit program, and they now have only four cadets left from the original program. In response to questions, Major Kanehailua stated that all incoming officers know that they may have to live in Kona. However, after 18 months, they can put in a request for transfer. Seniority is factored in. Every district commander puts in requests to increase their staff, but they have to go to the County Council to request additional positions. AC Pacheco stated that every year during the budget process, their prioritized list is submitted to County Finance. However, the Mayor makes the final decision. Commissioner Kaoiwi stated that some incentives need to be developed to assist people who live in one district and must commute to another district. The commissioners need to lobby the County Council for additional funds. They have a revolving door of people moving back home to the east side of the island. Major Kanehailua stated that the exit interview form was given to the commission. Human Resources addresses concerns with the section. Commissioner Behenna stated that it would be useful to put together an analysis of exit interviews by departments. He would like to know the percentage of sworn personnel who leave every year. Chief Mahuna stated that there is a litany of reasons why a person leaves the police department. He has seen a trend due to econonics. People come into the police department not necessarily wanting to be there. They found that a lot of people who came into the police department thought it would be cake walk, but into the training they found they had to have a certain amount of sacrifice and commitment. They spend a lot of money on background checks. They spend about $80,000 to $100,000 to train each recruit. He would rather have them leave in the beginning rather than later. It's rare for a 10 -year veteran to leave. A veteran officer would more likely leave for another law enforcement agency. They also take people from other agencies. The exits are usually from 0 days to one and a half months. That last recruit class started out with 20 people; today they have 17. They are about a year, a year and a half away from CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies). With this accreditation, they have to provide rules and procedures and use them everyday. • Finance: Major Kanehailua stated that their targeted expenditures was 8.3 %. They expended 8.4% of all salaries and wages accounts. Monies have been allocated for the Pahoa station which is in the design phase.