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Honorable Brenda Ford April 7, 2008 Page 4 criminal complaint"), Mr. Rees is mistaken as to the burden of proof. The Police Commission does not, nor has it ever during the present mayoral administration, utilized a burden or standard of proof commensurate with the criminal law standard. The burden of proof utilized by the Commission is an administrative standard, as the investigation of police officer misconduct cases is civil in nature. Turning now to the proceedings held on March 24, 2008, numerous Council members spoke at the Committee meeting, and verbalized questions they had concerning the need for this bill, as well as specific concerns related to provisions of the bill as currently written. We address each of these concerns below. 1. What are the underlying factual reasons the level and nature of oversight proposed by Bill 270 is necessary? Many Council members asked the question, "Why is this necessary?" These Council members sought to be informed of actual cases of police misconduct and the failure of the current system of investigation to properly address them. At the onset, it is important to recognize that with or without this newly proposed Office of Police Oversight and Complaints (hereinafter "OPOC"), there will be cases of police misconduct. No system presently known to our civilized society can effectively eliminate the fact there will be complaints made against police officers. The reality is for the vast majority of situations, interaction with the police is not a pleasurable event. Indeed, a significant number of complaints are made by persons who were arrested or otherwise investigated by the police; no doubt many of these persons may have a view of our police that is not consistent with the average law-abiding citizen. However, we do recognize there are (and will be) a number of complaints that are valid, made by law-abiding citizens. As recently reported in our media, the County of Hawai'i leads the state in the number of per capita cases of discipline and termination. No doubt many of these civilian-initiated complaints comprise the basis upon which this reported discipline is based. Further, as with all professions, there are "good cops," and "bad cops." The salient questions are (1) whether there is presently a systemic problem or phenomena in the police department that cultivates a culture of"bad cops," and (2) whether the present system of police oversight is adequate to address any police misconduct, and provides meaningful accountability to the public at large. If the answer to these questions is yes, and there is a demonstrated factual basis to support the premises, then improvements to the system via a Charter amendment may be warranted. In support of this legislation, Councilman Jacobson asserts there was a case of police misconduct involving complainants from his district (Ka'u) that