2009-09-18 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawaii County Police Commission Regular Session Minutes September 18, 2009 Page 3 CHIEF'S REPORT Including: • Crime: Assistant Chief Tavares summarized the written report. He reported that e- mails were being circulated about meat salesmen who could possibly be related to burglaries. Chair Whittemore stated that they need to be proactive in this matter. • Traffic: Assistant Chief Pacheco summarized the written report. Commissioner Behenna stated that he experience a lot of aggressive driving while coming to the meeting. Pacheco stated that all the districts have this problem. Puna and Hilo have been targeted for aggressive driving. The Hamakua area does have a high number of citations. Vice Chair Whittemore pointed out that Kona has a tremendous number of moving violations. Pacheco stated that Kona has more time to enforce traffic violations while Hilo concentrates on burglaries, etc. • Personnel: Assistant Chief Kanehailua reported having two sworn vacancies. Although, next week they will have five vacancies due to resignations. They will have twelve civilian vacancies. They are in the screening process for the next recruit class; recruitment started last October. They are projected to start a recruit class in February. They have eight cadets who qualify for Police Officer I. They will have an open recruitment the beginning of next year. Regarding the cadet program, if they go through all three phases, they can transition into the recruit program. The intent was to attract individuals coming out of high school. However, there is no age limit and older individuals have been in the program. Regarding retirements, he knows for sure about five next week. They don't know about any at the end of the year. The State Retirement System only needs 30 days notice. • Finance: Assistant Chief Kanehailua reported that they are keeping under budget and getting by. They are getting a head start on next year's budget. Due to emergencies, they can't make any predictions. • Commendations: Chief Kubojiri reported receiving 15 commendations in the past month. • Other Departmental Activities: Chief Kubojiri reported that earlier this week they had a meeting with Mayor Kenoi regarding the County's financial situation. It is projected that they will have a shortfall of almost $45 million. A think tank has been put together. Most of the viable suggestions have already been implemented in the police department. They have to be cognizant of overtime issues. The rumor mill has said that the Chief and the Deputy said no more over time. However, in their job, they will have overtime. They have to think a little bit differently and work smarter such as doing a report the next day. Overtime such as holidays, has to be pre- approved. He will be sending out a memo regarding the budget.