2008-04-07_Bill 270_Ordinance_re_Office_of_Police_Oversight

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Honorable Pudding Lassiter and Members of the Hawai'i Police Commission Honorable Lawrence K. Mahuna May 24, 2006 Page 4 answer Councilman Safarik's question if posed by the public: What is the police department doing to ensure corruption is not taking place? 4. The Commission is a rubber stamp for the Chief. This is an unfortunate perception of the past that still permeates in the belief of some of our citizens today. It is also unfortunate since proponents of this belief require a contentious and adversarial relationship between the Commission and Chief as the only evidence that "the system is working the way it should." Consensus and collaboration are foreign concepts to them, as they fail to recognize the most important characteristic of positive work alliances in the modern work place is cultivation, establishment, and sustenance of trust. There is no easy answer to this riddle. When I asked a local news reporter what evidence he had that the "rubber stamp" was alive and well, he reminisced about former commissioners who had unfortunately used their positions unethically. He even commented on a former commissioner who wore "cop sunglasses." The worse (and only) negative observation the reporter made about our present Commission was that the Commission "eats lunch with the Chief." I responded that a once-a-month lunch in a public restaurant is much different than the Chief playing cards with a group of Commissioners on Saturday night. Nonetheless, this was again a sobering reminder of the ghosts of the past appearing at the door of our present Commission. Indeed, it appears much of the "fuel" used by proponents of the independent police auditor legislation came from the negative perceptions earned through the deeds of previous administrations and commissioners. When called to the carpet and asked to articulate present "corruption," the Council Member who introduced the legislation could only say that unidentified persons contact him "all the time" to complain about the police department and Commission. Although the independent police auditor proposal may not pass, it has again placed in the public spotlight innuendo of"police corruption," a familiar theme in the recent history of our community. The challenge for the Commission is to recognize that in small communities, perception is sometimes greater (and more powerful) than the truth. Transparency is critical here. If and when the Commission decides to amend its practice to allow HPD Internal Affairs to complete a thorough investigation into all cases of alleged wrongdoing, and then conduct a