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1J��1 40F y�`L•. $��$� d POLICE COMMISSION•co �� » / `/ P� • POLICE " 00 .� '•.,�, �,P; COUNTY OF HAWAII •'F o;•NP'. HILO, HAWAII January 26, 1979 Hawaii County Charter Commission c/o R. B. Legaspi County Clerk County of Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Thank you for your letter of January 27, 1979, and this opportunity to put in writing my testimony to the Hawaii County Charter Commission on January 16, 1979. We recommend three changes to the County Charter as follows: 1. Delete Section 7-2.5(c) which states that the Chief of Police shall "take charge of and keep the County Jail and all prisoners committed thereto. " The jail function has been taken over by the State Correctional System and no longer comes under the jurisdiction of the County or the Chief of Police 2. Modify Section 7-2.2 to enlarge the Hawaii County Police Commission from seven to nine members. This change would foster greater public participation in the police department, allow more flexibility in apportioning the membership of the commission according to population, and would make it easier to obtain a quorum at each police commission meeting. 3. Delete Section 7-2.7 which places the Police Department under the general supervision and control of the Mayor. Section 7-2.5 of the Charter already provides that "The Chief of Police shall be the administrative head of the police department", Section 7-2.4 gives the Police Commission the power to appoint and remove the Police Chief, and Section 7-2.3 gives the Police Commission the right of inquiry into departmental matters. Section 7-2.7 is ambiguous in that it appears to place the Police Department under another boss, though we do not believe that the Charter is intended to permit I M. NO. cOMM. NO, <_. ---