CHC 1979-01-16 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MR. KUNIYOSHI: True. MR. ISHIDA: Although you have raised certain inconsistencies which appear, even so you still feel that the pro- visions are such that it' s workable and functional. MR. KUNIYOSHI: I think so. I would agree with that. As I said, I'm for the retention of the present setup no matter what. CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Thank you, Mr. Kuniyoshi. HAWAII The Chair next called on the Hawaii Police Department POLICE representatives to present their testimony. DEPARTMENT: MR. RICHARDS: Members of the Charter Commission. My name is Herbert M. Monty Richards. I'm Chairman of the Police Commission. I would like to thank all of you in behalf of the Police Department for having the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss a few matters of concern that are currently in the charter. I would like first to call attention to 7-2. 5 , paragraph "c" from the charter which points out and I quote, "take charge of and keep the county jail. " This is no longer a county function as it has been removed by state law. We would like to see this deleted. Another section which we would like to see deleted -As section 7-2. 7 , and I quote, "The police department shall come under the general supervision and control of the mayor. " We feel that this is ambiguous as it tends to point out that the police department has an awful lot of bosses. We feel that the mayor should not exercise supervision and control over investigators, beat patrolman or others in the department because we feel they should take their orders directly from the Chief. I would like to point out also that actually the administration still has control over the police department by the budget and we feel that this is certainly strong control. I understand that Mayor Matayoshi is strongly in favor of a non--pol-itical police department so, therefore, gentlemen, we would like to see Section 7-2. 7 deleted. There is one other section which we would certainly wish this body to consider, modify, and that is Section 7-2. 2. This would be increasing the size of the commission from seven members to nine. I believe the method of appointment is covered under section 13-4. The reason for this modification is we feel. it would give greater public participation and greater flexibility in the appointment of commissioners according to population. A third reason, but it is a reason somewhat less important than the first two, is the quorums would be more easily obtained and during certain times of the year, either due to illness or people off the island and out of the county, this has become a problem. Therefore, we would like this body to at least consider this modification. - 13 -