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Honorable Pudding Lassiter February 12, 2007 Page 2 • Internal Affairs' ability to question police officers while affording them their Garrity rights is a tremendous tool not available to the Commission. The majority of commissioners recognize the present system in place is not all that bad. Some have remarked, "If it is not broken, perhaps we don't really need to fix it." The Commission has requested the Corporation Counsel to incorporate the primary conclusions above into a recommendation for the investigation of cases for the future. The following represents some options available to the Commission. Option 1 • Make no changes, as the present system is working fine. Pros: (1) The present system has the benefit of allowing the public to come before the Commission prior to any decisions by the Commission being made, thereby promoting transparency. Some have remarked Hawaii County's system is unique in that our citizens are afforded the opportunity to address the police commission. Cons: (1) Investigations take long to complete due to scheduling problems and lack of police reports; (2) investigations are incomplete due to the inability of the Commission to obtain a statement from the police officer. Option 2 • Refer all cases to Internal Affairs. Pros: (1) Internal Affairs will conduct a more comprehensive investigation than the Commission, since they have the legal ability to obtain a statement from police officers pursuant to Garrity, (2) the investigation will be completed in a more timely manner given the resources of the police department vis-a- vis the Commission. Cons: (1)Allowing the police to investigate their own cases may lead to the argument that "the fox is guarding the henhouse." The suggested solution The best solution is a combination of Options 1 and 2 above, incorporating the "pros" from each. The following flow chart outlines a suggested course of investigating complaints made to the Commission: 1. Complaint received by Commission and forwarded to Internal Affairs. Once the complaint is received, it is immediately transmitted to Internal Affairs so an investigation may begin. This eliminates the