2014-02-21 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Minutes February 21, 2014 Page 4 Commissioner Schutte will be the Master of Ceremonies. They are still filling the speakers and defining their content. He asked each commissioner to assist with various tasks. He would like to share and promote the Big Island and its products. INVESTIGATION AND DELIBERATION OF COMPLAINT HPC 13-48: Complainant Gregorio Uy alleged that when registering his firearms, records personnel involved the ATF agent. He accused the supervisor in charge of the records department. GREGORIO UY came before the commission. He stated that he hopes he is not discriminated against because he is Filipino. He gave a background history of himself and being a veteran. He questioned why they confiscate non-working guns and why the police involved the ATF agent. He was able to register all his guns, but when he tried to register the Tommy guns, they involved ATF. ATF told him he could hire a lawyer, submit what he thought was wrong, and obtain bonding which he does not want to do. He wants the Police Commission to convince ATF to return his guns. Chair Bertsch told Mr. Uy the commission has no jurisdiction with ATF. CAPTAIN RANDAL ISHII, supervisor in charge or the records department in Complaint HPC 13-48, came before the commission. He stated that when the clerk is not sure about a firearm, she would call him. When Mr. Uy came in, he was not there, so she called ATF Special Agent Horenburg who has an office in the Police Department. Special Agent Horenburg was not sure, so, he confiscated the firearms for examination. He has a report of the case. From the examination, they concluded the guns were replicas. Three were machine guns. Regular citizens are not allowed to register these firearms. They kept the three and returned the AK 47. They are replicas, but because they are so close to the original. They are classified as machine gun under the federal statutes. It is their procedure to involve ATF when there is a question. Vice Chair Schutte stated that anyone can buy parts by the millions on the internet to get guns working. The police department did the right thing. Corporation Counsel Ashida stated that the federal government has exercised jurisdiction. He advised the county not take a position on what the federal government should and should not do. The commission’s jurisdiction is whether there was any misconduct on the part of Captain Ishii. Commissioner Victorine motioned to decline further investigation for three reasons, the complaint was not filed within 90 days of the incident, the complaint did not involve an element of misconduct, and the complaint is not within the commission’s jurisdiction. Commissioner Morioka seconded. Discussion: Commissioner Ono said they should decline with a single reason, that it is not within the commission’s jurisdiction.