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concerning the authority to discharge a chief? Do you have comments on that? Before I say that, before I ask you to answer the question, when Mr . Ron Ibarra was here, who had been the managing :.director , one of the things that he mentioned, but I think it ' s (inaudible) opinion, is that he thinks the commission should be able to set policy but only in very broad areas . It should investigate wrongdoing. And he mentioned that the Honolulu system is different. Now, I 'm not really familiar with that. So I guess what I 'm asking . . . I think Mr . Ibarra, according to my notes , what we 're really talking about is a broad (inaudible) area, not having a commission interfere with day-to-day operations of the department. But I think he was suggesting something more than simply the appointment of the chief and I guess the removal of the chief. Because it really says the chief of police shall be appointed by the Police Commission and may be removed by the Police Commission. In the previous section, the Police Commission shall adopt such rules .as it may consider for the conduct of its business and regulations of the matters committed to, its charge by law. So, in one sense, the only matter committed to its charge by law is the hiring and firing of the chief of police. Should that be changed? What are your feelings , if any , about this subject? VIERRA: I think, whether any change is made or not is going to depend on whether the Count is willingto` commit in terms of a Y P budget. The Honolulu Police Commission right now functions as a civilian watchdog for the taxpayer . They have investigative powers . They have a staff of clerks and investigators . Any allegation of wrongdoing onthe part of a police officer on duty can be investigated by the Police Commission and their investigators . But even the Honolulu system, the duties and functioning of that well. ...because they. . . if you look at their track record, they rarely are able t o - f 'i 'n d against the police officer and . . . essentially because of the limited investigative powers they have. So if the Hawaii County is willing to budget an investigative staff, then yes, I could see expanding the commission' s powers here. It would take the. . . some of the work off the Police Department in investigating their own and I think would provide some balance in the eyes of the community, in that a separate entity is investigating police misconduct. If we don' t go that far , then I think at least the Charter should be a little more specific as to exactly what the Police Commission' s duties are. They 're quite ambiguous right now. We do not. . .police commissioners don ' t even know how far they ' re allowed to go and manage the (inaudible) department and I 'm at a loss to properly guide them either . 197