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minutes 10-13-99Page 14 of 31
<br />PRANKE: It didn’t solve the political problems.
<br />I have presented for you, and I apologize for my printer. I will get a new printer cartridge tomorrow and
<br />get you good copies. I didn’t realize this was going to happen until the last. This is a proposal for the
<br />revision of the Hawaii County Charter to provide for an independent Police Commission. As the
<br />Charter’s written now, the Police Commission is a part of the Police Department, and the Police
<br />Commission has really, since the people voted to have a Police Commission back in 1990, done an
<br />abysmal job. All you have to do is read the headlines of the newspaper to see there’s something wrong.
<br />Something rotten is happening. Whether different factions that are vying against each other, whatever, it
<br />doesn’t matter. To the good cops on the beat, the cops that are trying to do their job, it’s very
<br />demoralizing to have this junk going on at the upper echelons of the Police Department, and the reason
<br />it’s going on is because we don’t have an independent Police Commission, which can accept input from
<br />the public, or from police officers, and the police officers know that the information won’t be used
<br />against them. I’ve proposed a simple change here. In my change, Section 7-2.1, Organization, would be
<br />changed to omit the term "Police Commission", and Section 7-2.2 would be deleted, and essentially
<br />moved under Article IX, put under the Prosecuting Attorney’s purview. The reason for this is because
<br />this is an oversight Commission, an oversight Board. We have about four of them: the Police
<br />Commission; the Ethics Board is supposed to be an oversight Board; the Planning Board of Review and
<br />the Liquor Board of Review, but I don’t believe those two Boards can logically go under the Prosecuting
<br />Attorney’s Office, the Liquor Board and the Planning Board, because of the separation of powers
<br />problem, but the Police Commission, I do believe, and the Ethics Board, and I made a presentation to the
<br />Board of Ethics, essentially the same way, and I will get that to you also. Essentially the Police
<br />Commission would be moved under the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office where the Prosecuting Attorney,
<br />and not the Corporation Counsel, would provide legal counsel, secretarial support and investigative
<br />support, for the Police Commission. As it is now, the Police Commission members are appointed by the
<br />Mayor and sit under the Corporation Counsel, who’s also appointed by the Mayor, and in essence, we
<br />have the watch dogs inside the hen house. They’re not doing the job that they should be. The Police
<br />Commission should be an independent review board. We should look at something like New York City,
<br />where their Police Commission is independent and not part of the Police Department. That’s essentially
<br />what I have. The other major change is that the Police Commission would not be appointed by the Chief
<br />Executive but rather by the County Council, with each member appointing a member to the Police
<br />Commission. The Police Commission would be expanded to nine members. It’s already expanded to
<br />nine members, I’m sorry. Each member would appoint a person to that Commission, with the approval
<br />of the rest of the Council, and then that Commission would be under the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office,
<br />and would not come under any of the Legislative or the Executive Branch at that point. That was my
<br />proposal.
<br />RAY: Questions for Mr. Pranke?
<br />HERKES: I just have one comment. We’re probably going to have to pay the Prosecuting Attorney
<br />more than we are the Council Manager by the time we get all these things under the Prosecuting
<br />Attorney.
<br />RAY: Sue.
<br />IRVINE: I did have one comment. We’ve had some other testimony saying maybe we should elect the
<br />Police Commission. We’ve tentatively moved the Planning Board of Appeals into the Corporation
<br />Counsel’s Office so things are swirling around in our minds. I think your suggestion sounds rather
<br />interesting to get Ethics, and the Police Commission is obviously having quite a bit of trouble right now,
<br />or the Police Department is having a lot of trouble with managing themselves, and maybe if they went
<br />off to the Prosecutor’s Office, it would make more sense.
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