Laserfiche WebLink
minutes 10-13-99Page 27 of 31 <br />HERKES: Okay. <br />MAHUNA: You mean in lieu of a Police Commission you would have a Public Safety Commission that <br />would oversee the fire, civil defense, police? <br />HERKES: Yes. Those are the things that protect me, from County government. Not from County <br />government, but they’re the things from within County government that protect me. Those are the kinds <br />of tools that we empower County government to provide to protect our citizenry. <br />MAHUNA: I guess, and this is not something that comes from the Police Chief, but I would think that, <br />just looking at the size and the scope of having a Commission like that that would be empowered with <br />overseeing a multitude of public safety entities, would be an enormous task. I think it would be a task <br />that would be almost doomed to failure unless you had a big Commission and you separated them to <br />specifically look at Police Department, the Fire Department, the Civil Defense, and everything else that <br />effects your public safety. I think that, even at this point in time, you’re looking the Police Commission, <br />I think they have <br />an enormous job, taking care of complaints against Police Department people, taking care of <br />recommending certain things to the Administration, reviewing policies and procedures that come out of <br />the Police Department, and I think they spend a lot of time, and in fact, probably an inordinate amount <br />of time, listening to complaints, seeing that these complaints have some merit or they don’t have any <br />merit. I think that a lot of their function, as a separate entity to investigate some of these complaints, is <br />governed by the budget. You know their budget has been cut enormously, and so if it’s dependent upon <br />the budget, you’ve got to look at, not only creating something that will take care all of the public safety <br />issues, but you have to also look at the enormity of the job, and also giving them a budget that they can <br />do their job with. And I think that severely inhibits that, and I don’t think that has probably anything to <br />do with the Charter Commission at this point, but that’s just my private opinion. <br />RAY: Other questions? <br />IRVINE: I do have one more for both of you. Essentially, it’s been mentioned to us, several different <br />things have been brought to our attention about the Police Commission, including the fact that maybe <br />they should be elected. Maybe the Police Chief should be elected. And the most interesting idea I heard <br />mentioned was maybe the Police Commission should be under the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and <br />not where it presently is. I was wondering if police officers would feel more comfortable going for a <br />hearing in front of a body that wasn’t under their own department, that sort of thing. Would moving <br />them from where they are over to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office help? <br />MAHUNA: I don’t see what that would accomplish, if anything. <br />IRVINE: Well, your staff would be prosecuting attorneys on the Commission rather than Police <br />Department, so it would be outside the department. <br />MAHUNA: On the Commission itself, we don’t have any Police Department individuals. <br />IRVINE: Police Department staff for your Commission, or your offices are there, or what? <br />OKABE: We only have one staff, the secretary. It’s right next door. <br />MAHUNA: And the reason why is because it would serve really no purpose. If a complaint is referred to <br />file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 10-13-99.html7/1/2011 <br /> <br />