2012-07-20 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Regular Session Minutes July 20, 2012 Page 4 removed from the budget. The costs and pros and cons were identified by the committee who did the research on marked vehicles. There were pros and cons for visibility, but they could not show a direct link between visibility and reduction in crime. At the time it made people feel safer to see a marked police vehicle. The vehicles are driven hard like taxies. Chair Ono stated that the public thinks the vehicles are being maintained, but they don't know that there are not enough funds to maintain the vehicles. • Commendations of sworn and civilian employees: Chief Kubojiri reported receiving 16 commendations involving 83 personnel since the last meeting, much of which related to participation in non - profit organizations. The County Council commended ten officers from Kona for their DUI enforcement efforts for the first quarter of this year. Four other officers will receive commendations at another meeting. Other departmental activities including those related to administration and operations: Chief Kubojiri reported that following their regular commander's meeting in Honoka`a, Corporation Counsel Ashida conducted a training session. A community meeting followed. In the Honoka`a area, the community was concerned about noise by ATVS and ranch vehicles on private property. It is mostly on pastureland, and people are using ATVs for racing. The ATVs have little or no muffler system. They are working with community policing officers to resolve this problem. They cannot do anything about ATVs on private property. People were also concerned about speeding from North Hilo to Lakeland and the lack of signage. They were directed to the State Highways Division. On the personnel side, Captain Jelsma, in Puna, will be deploying next month for a year. Lieutenant Reed Mahuna who is assigned to Puna, will be the Acting Captain. Last week Friday, they had a statewide chief and deputy chief's meeting in Hilo. They decided to form a Police Chief's Organization for the State of Hawaii. This organization will discuss issues, support bills in the legislature, and deal with issues that affect all counties. They also discuss grievance issues. Commanders and personnel have worked very hard to bring their stations and districts into compliance with CALEA standards. They had mock exercises. Areas that needed improvement were identified. One was the separation of evidence and another was storage and security by tow companies. The problems have been corrected. They will be requesting additional monies to replace their Taser ECDs, electronic control devices. They can no longer get parts for their current ECDs. They found another cheaper, more efficient, and improved device. The camera system has also been improved. They will be able to trade -in their old ECDs. Each device costs over $1,000. Taser International is the leading company in the United States. At the last meeting, the commission had concerns about safety in the Police Commission's office. Lieutenant Briski and Officer Derr of Community Policing went to