2017-04-21 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Regular Session Minutes April 21, 2017 Page 2 calls for service, 2,720 for criminal/traffic and 6,117 for miscellaneous public assistance. • Traffic Report: Assistant Chief Mitchell Kanehailua reported that fiscal year to date, there were 1,045 traffic crashes, 28 traffic fatalities, 17 DUI fatalities, and 877 DUI arrests. For the month of March, 5,841 citations were issued: 3,732 moving/regulatory, 552 seat belt, 67 child restraint, and 1,490 for speeding. Increase in DUI arrests could be attributed to their drug recognition training. • Personnel Report: Chief Ferreira reported having 14 sworn and 23 civilian vacancies which includes school crossing guards. The current recruit class started with 14 personnel and is now down to 9. Finance Report: Chief Ferreira reported that salaries and wages are at 79% of budget. Their new budget remains status quo with cuts in overtime. They did not ask for any new positions. They do not have funds for new vehicles or for repairs. All stations need repairs which is done by DPW, but everything depends on available funds. County -wide, all facilities are lacking maintenance. The longer they put it off, the more it will cost. The estimated cost to repair the Hilo station is in the range of $200,000; lead is a concern. Commendations of Sworn and Civilian Employees: Chief Ferreira reported receiving 5 commendations since the last meeting. Other Departmental Activities: Chief Ferreira reported that the recruit graduation will be held on July 15. They will have police week ceremonies on May 15-16. The 86th recruit class will start on May 16. CONSIDERATION AND INVESTIGATION OF COMPLAINT • HPC 17-08: Complainant alleged that he was unlawfully arrested and detained. He also alleged that the police did not properly investigate his complaint and his son's complaint. The officer requested to be heard in open session. CAPTAIN SAMUEL JELSMA came before the commission in open session. He swore to tell the truth. He responded to the complaint and questions from the commissioners. He stated that he feels this is a frivolous complaint and wants it to be a public record. He stated that on the 26th of January, it was alleged that John Rodrigues, retired police detective, went to a tree trimmer jobsite and threatened one of a workers. It was described that he had a rifle; he had a shotgun. It continued where he ended up at a residence. He heard the initial call that a male party had been threatened, and the suspect had left. Later, there was a call that a person was driving around HPP threatening people. Everybody headed to that location. A task force was also in HPP. Officers were off on 3rd Avenue in HPP. When he got to the scene, he didn't know who was involved. There was a gray pickup on the site. Officers were on the scene. There was an individual who was