2006-08-03 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Deputy Chief Kubojiri explained that unlike the island's nine political districts, the Police Department divided the island into eight districts. Because the central headquarters is in Hilo, the cost of doing business is difficult because they are dealing with over 4,000 square miles of land mass. The Department has 430 authorized, sworn officer positions, of which 390 are presently occupied. In conjunction with the Civil Service Department, there is continuous open recruitment to hire police officers. In their recruitment efforts, they send representatives to job fairs and the like, not only locally and in the state, but also to the mainland. The civilian staff has just over 150 personnel, with over 130 of the positions filled. Like the sworn positions, they are actively recruiting for civilian personnel. Over the years, the Department has gained additional officer positions to serve the community. Yet while the sworn staff grew, the support staff remained constant and therefore heavily burdened. When the civilian staff became overburdened, it eventually trickled down to where the Department's services were affected. Last year they took measures to gain additional civilian positions, and they were allocated by the Council. Deputy Chief Kubojiri apologized for his letterit started out as his own notes but he decided he should put it on paper for the Commission. He went through the questions and responses on his letter. a. Do you have any ideas about what your department can do to save money while not compromising essential services? ♦Converting to digital photography would save them money. Technology has grown in leaps and bounds, but the Department is still using 35 millimeter film and polaroids. One problem with digital photography is that photos can be manipulated; and since their photos have evidentiary value, they need to make sure there are no alterations. Other jurisdictions have been successful with the technology, however, and they are working with the Prosecutor's Office in going through the process to establish the policy. Currently, they spend a tremendous amount on film developing, as they do not have their own lab. They also often use one -hour photo processing because the photos are needed right away. The whole current process is cumbersome and expensive. +Due to the shortage of sworn personnel, increase the compensation for the positions in Patrol and Dispatch, or offer bonuses for work attendance. Deputy Chief Kubojiri explained that the Department informally set a minimum number of officers to work at a given time in each district. Because of the shortage of sworn personnel, whenever an officer calls in sick, gets injured, or is on leave for whatever reason, the minimum staffing falls down. To compensate for this, an officer working the previous shift will work four hours overtime, and an officer on the next shift will come in early and put in four hours of overtime, to compensate for the missing officer. They are below the minimum staffing so frequently that some officers are mandated to work overtime at least every other day. They rotate the overtime days with other officers, yet their turn comes up every other day. 2