2013-06-21 Police Commission Minutes

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Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 3 Vice Chair Ignacio stated that their experience is that these individuals do not want to be housed. They are not here for services or jobs. They are here to panhandle. Assistant Chief Kealoha stated that the good news about the backpackers is that they do not become permanent homeless. They move on; they do their tour. He further stated that when you Google homeless facilities, Kailua-Kona is on the top ten destination for the homeless because of services, weather, and marijuana availability. Commissioner Bertsch stated that they are seeing a lot of foreign nationals coming over and backpacking. A lot of the backpackers on our street corners do not appear to be U.S. citizens. Vice Chair Ignacio stated that these individuals are not the typical homeless, but the numbers are painted with the same brush, so the numbers are increasing in Kona when actually their statistics are showing that they are not as far off with housing. It would be good to call them backpackers, not homeless. Traffic report by area, category, and trends: Assistant Chief Kealoha reported that no traffic trends were identified island wide, but accidents in Hilo remain consistent. Enforcement in high traffic areas continue throughout the island. Effective July 16, Sergeant Troutman will be the new TEU sergeant in Kona. The west side TEU will fall under the supervision of Area II. Troutman will be a working supervisor, and this will create on-scene supervision. Previously, the supervisor was in Hilo. This will be better for West Hawai‘i. Personnel report on vacancies, recruitment, training, promotions, reallocations, severance from service, and work assignments: Assistant Chief Kanehailua reported having 43 sworn vacancies. Eighteen recruits will go on the road on July 16. They have 1 re-hire and 2 intergovernmental movements. That will leave them with 22 vacancies. Effective July 1, they will have 10 additional positions, 5 for Ka’u and 5 for Puna. They are nearing the end of the screening process for recruits. PO III positions – CPOs, SROs, and Vice will be filled effective July 16. The lieutenant’s exam was completed. They have 4 vacancies. The sergeant’s recruitment list has been depleted, and another test will be scheduled. Ka’u will get a third sergeant on July 16.For the last few years, they have lost about 5 recruits from each class. For civilian vacancies, dispatch interviews were completed, and write-ups were sent to the Chief for selection. Finance report of budget and expenditures: Assistant Chief Kanehailua reported being at 91.7% of budget. They have one more month. They project their salaries and wages account will be at 95%. The reason for the overtime is the payroll lag and the Chief allowing cashing out of comp time in the later part of the last fiscal