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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1088.003 2006-2008 TESTIMONY OF MARGARET KUE HAZELWOOD TUESDAY, 22 APRIL 2008 HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL IN OPPOSITION TO ACCEPTING FEDERAL FUNDS FOR HELICOPTER SURVEILLANCE Today I am here to express my opinion regarding the decision that s before this County Council concerning the acceptance of federal funds for helicopter flights over our island as a method for enforcing marijuana cultivation laws. I am opposed to the council accepting these funds because I believe it is a inefficient, wasteful and invasive way to choose to enforce the marijuana cultivation laws. I am not here to ask that you not support bad laws, nor am I asking that you change or remove a bad law. I am merely asking that you truly consider what the best means of enforcement of the existing laws actually are. To do this you must consider the efficacy of the enforcement method, its costs and its impact on the total community. Helicopter surveillance fails to pass any of these litmus tests as a chosen method of enforcement Let us look first at the efficacy of the method. Since the Police have not filed and the council has not demanded the required annual reports, there has been no proof provided that helicopter overflights provide more convictions for marijuana cultivation than do more mundane, prosaic and less invasive police methods. The fact is that the police could tell you without a single helicopter flight where most of the commercial marijuana is being grown on this island. Given the lack of information and accountability and the continuing invasion of privacy and personal spaces that is a direct result of helicopter flyovers, this method fails to meet the first test. Cost, the second test, is interesting. The federal government gives the funds to support the flights but demands that Hawaii County police officers organize, lead and complete the operations. Basically our cost then is personnel. Now the personnel that is organizing, flying and completing the helicopter surveillance is not available to tend to emergencies and crimes on the ground. Hawaii Police Department has been understaffed for a long time and to waste valuable person power on a minimal return enforcement method which effectively removes the officers from any other task during that time seems ill advised. You say, well, we can authorize overtime for officers to fill the other needs. That will cost the county more and therefore strain the budget and it also presumes that officers can work long stressful hours and sell make decisions that are motivated by the best interests of those they are sworn to protect and serve. Note protect and serve, not harass and threaten. The final test is the intrusion and impact on the innocent public. It is hard to imagine a more threatening, intrusive and violating act than flying a large, loud, noisy helicopter over a residence, business or school. Their very presence intimidates and attests to the robo-cup mentality, that is so Comm. No Ref. To, Ffeseul0d Refi Dote {LPL 2 2 2008 problematic in our society today. We as citizens are presumed innocen L In the instant situation of marijuana cultivation I think it is sate to say that more than 99.5 percent of the population is, in addition, actually innocent of violating the laws prohibiting marijuana cultivation in Hawaii County. Those of us presumed and actually innocent of any crime are still subjected to the helicopter harassment as though we were guilty. My silence is shattered, my blue sky is fouled and my peace of mind and heart are destroyed. The threat of force is a force in itself. These machines are not birds. There is nothing quiet, graceful or natural about them, and frankly their whole energy is sinister. Exacerbating this problem is the issue of oversight. This council has given no credence to the public complaints about the low and inappropriate flights that have and continue to occur all over the island. A friend commented to me over the weekend that two weeks ago in south kona the black DEA helicopter was so low that 'another foot and they would have been harvesting my bananas'. When several people testified to such flights at the Councirs committee meeting on April 1016 the response was almost to a member, "we believe the police'; this without further questioning or investigation into any of the grievances. My husband and I have spoken to several of our neighbors in Hawi town and surrounds and many of them witnessed the low flights and disruptive, threatening actions of this helicopter which was by all witnesses well below 500 feet over highly populated areas, farms and ranches. We filed a complaint with HPD on the 10"' after the meeting. The flight itself was initially denied before any checking was done and then when further checking revealed that the flights complained of had occurred in the time and place stated the statement was, they weren't below 1000 feet. That's it, no further checking no room for any error in the police judgment, just you are wrong, even if there are many of you. There is a monumental problem in having an agency, any agency, but especially one as powerful and as impervious as the Hawaii Police Department handle its own complaints. With the notable exception of a couple of council members it seems that the same inabMity exists here. Given the reluctance most of the council members to give the people any real "voice', the likelihood for abuse with helicopter flyovers, the lack of any really meaningful results and the cost to the County, what valid argument exists in favor of accepting these funds. None. The people of Hawaii County deserve your honest and forthright attention to this matter, not a politically spun non-statement such as the one five of the seven council committee members espoused at the April W meeting. It goes like this: While I support the people's right to petition for a change of the laws until that happens I'm going to obey the law. Well, bully for you all but that is NOT the issue before you. We understand you support the law, however, using these helicopter flights to enforce it condones a pervasive spiritual blight which cannot be justified logically. I urge you to think this through, ignore your committee's recommendation and refuse the federal funds.