Laserfiche WebLink
Hawaii County Police Commission <br />Regular Session Minutes <br />January 16, 2009 <br />Page 3 <br />COMMITTEE REPORTS <br />• Discussion on committee assignments: Chair Whittemore stated that he spoke to <br />some of the commissioners regarding committee assignments. He wants to look into <br />the structure and mission of each committee. The Budget and Finance Committee is <br />self - explanatory, and this committee needs to work with the commission and the police <br />department on budget constraints and the budget approval process. The Office <br />Management and Staffing Committee deals mainly with Josie and falls on the Chair; he <br />will be on this committee. He wants to review the Rules and Policies Committee. <br />There are processes that he wants to go over with the current committee and <br />Corporation Counsel to set up guidelines before bringing up recommendations. He has <br />asked Commissioners Behenna and Sumja to stay on the committee, and they will <br />work on structure and refinement of the committee. The Contractual Services <br />Committee will remain vacant since they have not used an investigator recently. <br />Chair Whittemore reported that he would like to start a new committee that focuses on <br />community relations, and it would link up with the police department's public relations <br />specialist. The goal would be for each commissioner to identify two to three <br />opportunities in their district to engage the Chief in public appearances with key people <br />and community groups. He wants the committee to focus on police officers who are <br />doing things in the community that need to be acknowledged and that they don't see in <br />the press. This is putting the human feel to the police department rather than the <br />intimidation of the blue uniform. They need to see the police engaged in things like <br />coaching, paddling, etc. They need to support that and spotlight the police officers. <br />Chair Whittemore further reported that he spoke to Corporation Counsel and the Chief <br />and wants to set up a new committee. It would be a hand's on committee that works <br />with Internal Affairs. It would lean more with clarity and information that comes to them <br />so that they could clearly understand that action is taken on a timely basis. A lot of <br />times they are not familiar with cases because it's been six months since they reviewed <br />the case. The intent would be that prior to the meeting, hopefully the week before, two <br />commissioners would meet with Internal Affairs and go over each case that they are <br />working on so that they could share information with the other commissioners. They are <br />not trying to micro manage but are trying to be well- informed. He wants the <br />commissioners to rotate quarterly on this committee so that there would be new people <br />engaging in conversation and contact with Internal Affairs. He asked for thoughts from <br />the other commissioners. <br />Commissioner Morimoto pointed out that there were no guidelines for the committees. <br />Chair Whittemore agreed. He stated that he would like to set up goals for each <br />committee in the beginning of the year and measure their accomplishments. For Rules <br />and Policies, their goal is to clean it up in a timely fashion. For Community Relations, <br />each commissioner would put forth two meetings that the Chief would be able to get in <br />front of the public. They don't want to tie up the Chief in this process, but they also <br />want to effectively put the police department in front of the community. As <br />