2013-05-17 Police Commission Minutes

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HawaiÒi Police Commission Regular Session Minutes May 17, 2013 Page 4 Commendations of sworn and civilian employees: Chief Kubojiri reported having 10 commendations involving 41 personnel since the last commission meeting. Other departmental activities: Chief Kubojiri reported that this is the last day of National Police Week. The ceremonies in Hilo and Kona went well. Officers Joshua Gouveia and Garrett Hatada, who received gunshot wounds earlier this year, were recognized. They have not returned to work yet. Regarding overtime, this past year their civilian personnel were on furlough for two days. This year they are on one day furlough. The workload is just have one less day to work on it. Most of their paperwork is time sensitive. The furloughs will end in July. Regarding Saddle Road, the conditions of the road, high speed, and feral animals have been a big problem that contributes to traffic accidents. As far as enforcement, they are concentrating on areas that they foresee having a potential for bad traffic accidents. They would rather have drivers voluntarily comply with the speed limit, but they know it doesnÓt happen. During the month of May, they put out a media release asking the public to participate in their satisfaction survey. They did this in the past two years. This gives the public an opportunity to express issues that they have. In the end, he will combine the most common issues and respond on the website as he did in the past. On May 8, there was an article in the Star Advertiser about an incident at Hilo airport where a man sent some luggage through with a pressure cooker. That sent out all kinds of alarms with everybody. He gave kudos to the TSA workers in Hilo. The FBI got involved, and they assisted the FBI. The system worked. TSA did their job; they notified the FBI and the police. All went well. Commissioner Bertsch commended Chief Kubojiri for the job he is doing and his tremendous amount of public speaking. He appreciates the efforts he puts forward to the community because it makes the officers and the community feel comfortable, and he only hears great things. Secondly, they had a wonderful opportunity with Police Week at the Kona police station, and Deputy Chief Ferreira did a phenomenal job. Lastly, Honolulu PD was hacked in their public emergency information system. He asked how HawaiÒi County is doing. Chief Kubojiri said they checked it out, and they are all good. Regarding the Federal sequestration, it does impact some grants, but so far those programs have been able to absorb most of the cuts. An example is the Feds are able to use funds from unfunded positions from prior years. Recess was called at 9:53 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 10:08 a.m.